shallow mist
by E-mu saru
Summary: Grew up from one relative's to another with his younger brother to protect;Duo's possessive behavior had driven away the world from his brother in their twisted lives,what happen when his brother suddenly decided to submit to a school he found suspicious?
1. first day

**Shallow Mist feb 22, 09**

_**Disclaimer**__: G-boys not saru's (not available to buy anywhere; even though saru might have no money to even try and make a bargain over Heero…)_

_**Warning**__: critical AU, supernatural beings, violence, mature contents : male x male bonding, language, abusive tendency, relationship bordering to mutual-NCS (you'll understand after reading), to sum up: porcupine's dilemma; 2x1x2 or 1x2x1….umm, what's the difference?_

**1. first day **

The corridor was already empty; somehow the tall ceilings gave a cold air in the passageways, the tapping sounds of the woman showing them their way were resounding emotionlessly, like the sound of a ticking clock, only more rapidly; like the sound of a march of no turning back.

Duo turned at his younger brother a little behind him at his side, he looked subdued and impassive, looking at an imaginary space in front of his feet while walking, as if he were a lamb ushered to a butcher's house even though that butcher had a gingerbread house; he hadn't utter a single word since waking up this morning. Turning back at the woman in front of them, Duo frowned at her very short skirt, remembering the very low v-neck shirt she wore that was showing her lacy-bra; '…_Weren't we in an all boy school, didn't they have any regulation about how short a skirt should_….' He coughed his laughter once; of course there's no school regulation about skirts in an all boy school, baka..!! -even though there's a potential of bating some harassment, but no one wears….-- He thought to himself and his left foot almost tripped over his right.

The acidic woman stopped and turned sharply at him; "Mr. Maxwell, do you have something to say?" she said squinting through her cat-eye glasses.

Duo easily gave her his good natured smile and answered a polite reply, "No, Ma'am..!"

And the woman actually snorted before she resumed her walk. '_What was that? Did you actually want that kind of attention working in such a place,….Ma'am..?!_' Duo thought while looking utterly innocent on the outside. At the same time they turned on a junction and his younger brother brushed his side a little too roughly and 'accidentally' stepped on his right foot; he knew he'd meant it so he snapped his face at his younger brother but he had impassively slowed his steps again so he'd be one step behind him. Duo gave him an acid stare passed his right shoulder.

They reached the Headmaster's office and the woman reported their arrival, after she introduced him their names she gave the old man a curt nod, and with that she dismissed herself from their companies. The Headmaster pleased them to sit while he read their files.

"….So you requested to be in a same class?" his white brows lifted up from the cover of his large glasses and made the deep wrinkles on his forehead curved like another pair of lips.

"Yes, Sir..!" Duo answered with a nod.

"You're 15 this year, right, Mr. Maxwell; and your younger brother would turn 12..?" he left it hanging.

"Yes, Sir; but we're always together ever since…-" his violet eyes glanced at his stoic brother and found a dark glint in his eyes, "…-we were a lot younger. So could you please allow him to jump classes..?"

The Headmaster chewed on his pipe and gave them a penetrating stare in turn with the files in his hand and on the desk. "I see that you only had homeschool before you appointed yourselves to this school…!"

He took his ivory pipe from his mouth and put the paper from his hand covering the other on his desk, and leaned back on his tall-backed chair; "The way I see it, Mr. Maxwell, that your brother could enter your class easier than you do..!!" the old man said with a poker face.

"Ah, I know that my brother is a lot smarter than myself..!" Duo answered with a stiff grin.

The Headmaster gave a generic nod and bit his pipe again, picking up the files on his desk and put them on the side. "You already read the rule books you received with the uniforms…?"

"Yes, Sir..!"

"Then you are welcomed in this school. Room 113, Mr. Maxwell..!" the old man dismissed them briskly. Duo only blinked; it took him a full 5 seconds to realize that it was their classroom number and not something like a hotel's; a lot of traveling did that to someone.

"Oh, okay…I mean, yessir, Mr. Chromehart. Thankyou..!" he sprang to his feet with a little flush on his face, realizing his thought and its course and the way his body reacted.

"The more the merrier….!" He heard the old man muttered the words between his pipe when he closed the door, but he brushed it off of his mind since he had to erase some graphic imagination concerning about a hotel room and a certain someone wearing the school's uniform that used a _black velvet ribbon_ as a tie...

A derisive snort; "You left your brain on your pillow..?!" a grumbling low voice asked cynically behind him.

Duo leered to himself, drooping his eyelids as a dark shadow colored his violet orbs; he turned sharply and not waiting his younger brother's body to bump on his, since they were walking, he pushed his smaller body to the wall using his chest and trapped him there with his hands. "What, you want me to think with my _other_ head right now..?! You didn't get enough last night?!" he whispered throatily; satisfied when there was a flash of something sharp in his brother's eyes. He chuckled to himself, noting his brother's impassive mask didn't falter, but something in his brother's cold eyes enchanted him as always; and he dropped his leering face matching the impassive face under his.

"Leave everything to me..! Alright?" he asked with an authoritative whisper while his thumb stroked his brother's face, tracing his jaw line.

His brother didn't say anything, slapped the hand touching his face down and stood passively again as if challenging more contempt. Duo smirked, "Right…! Good boy!" he slowly licked the thinned lips once and turned his way again not waiting a respond from his younger brother, knowing he'd be by his tail.

Duo frowned and turned the map of the school in his hand around for the third time; if not for his brother's impeccable sense of direction they'd have taken a couple of wrong turns already. He sighed and closed the school's pocket book and stuffed it into his jacket pocket, and gestured his brother to lead their way. When they reached the destined class, the teacher already opened the door for them as she saw them coming from the corridor opposite the whiteboard from the windows.

"You are late; it's 4 minutes to 11.00 now. This school starts at 7.00, Gentlemen..!" the Japanese-doll looking woman said as they entered.

"We're sorry, Ma'am; we arrived late last night and we had a few mishaps with the boxes while we unpacked, and we got lost in the way to school..!" Duo said genuinely feeling sorry, that wasn't a lie. The city's roads were like maze to outsiders, the citizens were already adapted; but tourists sometimes got lost and would eventually give the carriage-taxi drivers their share of income. Duo still wasn't old enough to get his driver license, so he didn't mind it at first at the city's limitation to motor vehicles, and he was too prideful to give in and take the public transport to get them to a school which everyone could see between the buildings tops (since it was obvious that they were wearing that school's uniform; but wandering around in the streets that always ended up in a dead end actually proved to everyone of them being lost, wouldn't it?).

"Very well, since this is your first day, I will give you one exception and not put it in your records. But the school's regulations are strict, Gentlemen, three absents and you will have to repeat the class; three late records and you will have penalty depending to the teacher's consideration; please remember that..!" she spoke fast and turned to the class.

"Gentlemen, I would like you to welcome Mr. Duo Maxwell and Mr. Heero Yuy-Maxwell. You may take any seat you like..!" she said dismissing them. Duo blinked at her swiftness, were all Japanese act that efficient..? His mind jested. He nodded to the class in general, noticing that there were only 15-20 students in a 30-seats class; it showed how difficult it was to enter that school (in grades and in funds). He thought that he was quite a bright above-average student before he took the school test and passed with only adequate grades while his brother passed with flying colors. …like always! (he suspected that they let him in because Heero didn't want to enter the school and claimed his scholarship if he's not included). Full scholarship and jumping classes and sociopathic behavior; wouldn't that make him an absolutely bully target..?

Heero didn't mind all eyes stared at him, and still looking at his imaginary spot he took a seat at the back where he could easily slip away from the classroom by the back-door; but it seemed that he didn't really want to show it, so he picked the second row from the said door. Duo, knowing his mind, took the next seat to him separating him and the others in class; he's always acted like his shield, anyway.

The one hour spent in class to the lunch break at 12 o'clock didn't felt that long; Duo was busy taking notes of every student in his head while his ears listened to the teacher's lesson. The World History didn't impress him that much, a little part of his mind already knew every little detail that even the greatest teachers wouldn't know, but the way the Japanese-doll looking teacher elaborated her material with her distinctive voice drew him in it; she seemed to know what he was thinking when their eyes met several times, but she didn't admonish him. Perhaps since she saw that Heero as well didn't take notes by his side, he was still staring at his imaginary spot somewhere on his desk.

The bell on the tower rang for six times, it's the signal marking lunch time. Duo lifted his brows at the old sound reverberating in the whole school; he saw the large bell on the church's tower when they arrived in the school territory but didn't think that they'd use it as the actual signaling device. The teacher summed up her lesson and gave them reading tasks for her next class, and she greeted the class before leaving. The students put their books away and headed to the dining hall; somehow they only exchanged very few words between themselves, Duo noted; there was still no one greet them or ask them questions, he imagined that they'd be showered with swarming flocks asking them questions and such; or may be he read too much manga..? May be this school students were not that social….

They were on their way to the dining hall when the Secretary called Duo in the corridor; Heero stared her arrogant attitude with impassive eyes, Duo felt a little uneasy that Heero would even spare a glance at her (perhaps it was her very low v-neck showing her lacy-bra, or her very short skirt; or both…or her condescending stare at his younger brother) so he told Heero to go to the dining hall by himself and wait him there. "Don't go intimate with anyone I don't know..!" he said pass his shoulder as an afterthought; and of course that meant everyone since they had never been in schools before so the chance for them meeting anyone they knew there close to impossible. Heero was still staring impassively at his leaving back, he waited until they disappeared in a junction and then he proceeded to the dining hall.

The extravagance of the very tall ceiling of the hall didn't impress him, he could ignore the superfluous details of the ceiling paintings and the wall and columns ornaments as well, it was enough if he could trace exits and escape routes with his eyes. It was Thursday so the students had to take their lunch in lines; Friday they had Mass after lunch, so the whole teachers and the Headmaster joined with them, thus they would already have their meals on the tables; while on Saturday they had the whole day for club activities. On Sunday they only had to attend to morning Mass, the school's church was big enough to act as the city's church as well so that meant they would be attending morning Mass in this church anyway even though he didn't pass the school's entrance tests, he thought; annoyed by the church choir's hymns that was beginning to make his eardrums ringing while he was in the food line.

There went his appetite, he thought as he put the tray on the table and stared at the food as if it was leering at him. He waited for almost 30 minutes and Duo still didn't show up; there were already some bad scenarios played in his paranoid mind about what exactly made him summoned by the Secretary, but the only solution he kept sum up to them was that he would keep insisted that Duo stay by his side.

A couple of food trays were put on the table in front and next to his ignored tray, Heero trailed his eyes up in front of him without moving a single muscle of his other body parts, it brought a deep chuckle from the one he was staring. "You're new, right? I've never seen you before…!" a big student took the seat in front of him while his smaller friend took the one by his side, like cornering him; the one in front of him was not that big to look like a jock, just average 17-year olds or so, but to his 12-year old body both of them were certainly bigger.

Heero had deliberately picked a corner table that was separated from the lining long tables at the center of the hall so that he wouldn't have to brush with the other students; but seeing that the corner tables were set for at least 5-6 seats per table he realized that some jocks and their gangs would have already booked them for their own party, and he regretted that he didn't think about that sooner. It's not because he was afraid of them, it's just because he got so lazy for dealing with people; he flicked his eyes to the hall entrance where he got in previously, hoping that Duo enter the double doors soon, like now.

The big student seemed to interpret his action wrong for he laughed with an unpleasant grunting noise at the ends; "What? Missing your date, Honey..?!"

Heero suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at his miserable attempt to intimidate him (Duo did say not to get intimate, would that mean to intimidate other is alright..? He was beginning to think something he could do with his fork and dining knife…). The big boy's silver-cross cameo fastened on his collar had a red shield-form pin base; that meant he was in the athletic division with not much necessity of using his brain; while his smaller friend's pin had a green shield, meaning he's using halve of his brain.

"Woohooo..! Silver pin..!! Hey, he's an elite brain-stuff, Bard..!" Just as he thought about pins, Heero thought; the smaller student called Bard only spared a glance at his collar while he munched on his lunch, and stuffed more food into his mouth ignoring him.

"Hey, silver shield with gold rim; he's a full scholar, Bard..!!" the big boy leaned above him from across the table and looked closely at Heero's collar, his hand was almost pulling at it. Heero minded the approach and pulled his body back a little, the boy opposite him seemed to catch his action as an insult for he put on a menacing scowl on his face.

"Ah, there you are; I've been searching for you…!" a light happy voice cut the big boy's words before he voiced them; he flicked his eyes at the intruder angrily and his face immediately turned to a neutral mask once his eyes fell on the intruder's smiling face.

"Winner..!" he stated than greeted.

"Good day, Gridstein. Hello, Baldric..!" the smiling intruder greeted the boy and his smaller friend in turn. Heero thought in a flash hearing the name; Bard was from Baldric…right, no one would want to be called Bald even for a shortened.

Bard blew a breath, "I'm done..!" he said putting his tableware back into the tray. "Hello, you too, Quatre..!" he said standing from his seat and nodded at his tray, not to the person he greeted. "Are you finished, Reed?" he asked while he walked away from them; his big friend only stared at his still untouched food and his leaving friend with a scowl, thinking how fast his smaller friend could eat. "Wait..!!" he brought his tray along catching up to his walking friend who didn't even bother to look back nor slowing his steps.

"That was Reed Gridstein, the top at Gymnastic of the club; he's usually too open with his approach so sometimes people found him rude, but he's quite tame once you know him or he knows you. The other was Baldric Feuer, the nephew of the German teacher, Herr Feuer. He's bored to the bone living in the dorms all his life, so he never really tried hard with his lessons."

Heero glanced at the smiling boy who took a seat next to him by the wall, the light from the window made a halo around his blond head; the silver cross of his pin glinted like a little sun.

"I'm Quatre Raberba Winner, the dorms' attendant; this is my roommate Trowa Barton. Nice to meet you…!" the smiling boy offered him his hand but Heero ignored him and stared back at his imaginary spot somewhere on top of his already cold soup with soggy French bread. The boy's tall friend took a seat in front of his smiling friend after he introduced him his name, and he ate in silence.

Quatre chuckled to himself, "I know you don't apply for the dorms, but at least you should find someone to give you the tour around school. People do get lost in this school, you know..?" The smiling boy seemingly didn't take his ignorance as something impolite; he ate his lunch still with his shining air with relaxed graciousness. They ate in silence for about 15 minutes; then Trowa took out a pocket book from his jacket and read, Quatre took out a notebook and sketched something he saw from the window on it. They didn't try to chat with him so Heero didn't mind their companies, as long as they didn't mind him ignoring them.

Quite a number of curious students passed him and pointing at him, whispering with each other; but no one approached him when they saw the two 'busy' boys sitting with him. He could ignore them all the same. But his eyes couldn't help but notice the boys' pins on their collars; Quatre had a silver one with gold rim, the same with his, while Trowa had a silver shield with black rim; what ever that meant. Silver-Cross University was not using the same curriculum with other schools, or private schools for that matter; being a university in a tourism city didn't mean that they gave the students a slack in their lessons, thus they made the pin-grades to avoid social gap (seeing that mostly very rich parents could pay the school tuition for their children here; parents that once took a vacation in the city and got a tour in the school-estate as well or the church, and thought it'd be awesome for their children to submit to such a beautiful old school and had the whole city for vacation at same time); but as every system had its own flaws, this school apparently had something called pin-gap. He remembered Duo fussed about the yellow pin he got in the uniform box waiting for him in his room; being in the lowest brain level annoyed him more than necessary.

The bell rang for three times on the tower; Quatre turned his face at Heero still with shining smile, "That's three minutes before lunch break's over. Are you still waiting…?"

Heero didn't answer him; he was just stubbornly staring at the unlikely soup now rather than at his now unimaginable imaginary spot on top of it. Duo said to wait for him there, so that's what he's going to do. Quatre stood up with his tray, followed by Trowa; Heero didn't even glance at them leaving, he was too busy ignoring his paranoid mind going static that even the choir's hymns didn't enter his ears.

The bell sounded six times, students rushed out from the hall and they didn't mind him still sitting on his table with the untouched food; Heero gritted his teeth, he didn't mind being left behind by others he didn't even care to know, but his mind kept telling him that Duo more likely would have been in his way to their next class knowing that the lunch break was already over. He didn't want to be left behind by Duo.

A small hand pulled his arm to get him up; "Let's go! I've checked that we have the same class next; Mr. Copper is very strict with timing, he'd even sort to physical punishment, you know..!" Quatre said fast, while Trowa took his tray and dumped it unceremoniously in a corner trashcan near them.

"Let's go, Heero..!" Quatre pulled his arm with a strength not matching his small lithe figure and angelic face. Heero was a little stunned at hearing his name came out from the small blond that he let himself got pulled to the hall doors with Trowa close behind them as if herding him or not letting him escape.

He was surprised when he met a pair of glinting Duo's eyes as he was standing by the doors waiting the rushing line of students to pass by; his violets darkened at the sight of a blond stranger pulling him around and calling him by his name. They were the last ones in the line so if he could escape them Heero thought it still wouldn't escape Duo's eyes, seeing that he had already seen them anyway. Heero let out a minuscule sigh and pulled his arm from Quatre's hand and walked to Duo.

There was bright realization in his blue eyes seeing Duo smiling at him and his tall friend, and he smiled in relieved. "Room 99, on the third floor, east wing..!" Quatre told them neutrally with a smile while passing them.

"Thank you..!" Duo waved at him flashing his brightest smile in return; when they disappeared in a junction Duo snapped his head at Heero with a livid stare, Heero didn't stare back, he felt it was enough that he found his imaginary spot in front of his feet back.

Duo gripped his upper arm and pulled him roughly to the said east wing; once they reached the third floor he searched for an open door to the terrace, and found a secluded corner outside. Heero already readied himself for a lashing.

"I told you to wait in the hall..!" Duo's face contorted in a wild grimace.

"I did…"

"Didn't I tell you not to get intimate with anyone..?!"

As if what Quatre did to him could be called getting intimate; "I didn't..--" he heard the loud slap sound and it broke the ringing in his ears from the choir's hymns. A rustling of paper hidden in the unbelievably tall weeping willow caught his eyes as his face was turned facing it, the drooping branches swayed in the winds and he could see a uniform jacket hung on the woody branch, then a student lounging on the tree who apparently was sleeping in the cover of the drooping branches and leaves; he was using a book to cover his sleeping face and it seemed Duo's voice had woken him.

Duo's hand brought his face back at him before he could see the other student's face as he was lifting the book from his face.

He pulled his mind to the person before him; Duo was scowling darkly but he was stroking his heated cheek with his thumb. "I told you to leave everything to me, don't even talk with anyone without my permission..!" he said a little apologetically then crushed their lips together roughly as if getting his missed lunch. His younger brother opened his mouth to voice something but Duo didn't let him complain, he deepened the rough kiss using his hands to press his smaller body to his. Heero clung to his back as he was forced to stand on his toes, knowing Duo wouldn't stop if he didn't kiss back.

Duo let him down after a minute passed, "You got it…?!" and he still had his possessive glints in his eyes even though his dark scowl got tamer. Heero nodded once without even a word out; he noticed that Duo's pin of yellow shield was exchanged with a silver one with black rim, like Trowa's, but he didn't ask about it. Duo pulled him along to find the class and Heero turned his head behind to see the boy's face on the willow tree; he was a Chinese about Duo's age who was lifting one of his brows at the scene played on the terrace, a curious eye stared at him from under the book. Heero stared him for a second and turned to his front again at Duo's back.

Mr. Copper was, opposite to Duo's imagination of old orthodox teacher with a clock in his hand waiting the bell to finish ringing in the class to catch students who were late even for a second, still look young enough to be freshly graduated from the teacher university. They were late for about 5 minutes and Duo had prepared to get reprimanded, but evidently the strict Mr. Copper was testing their dynamics since they were quite the known absurd pair by the teachers, it seemed. He interrogated them in front of the class, like his usual drill, and seemed to press his questions on Heero; perhaps he was really demanding a response from his shut off brother, either because of him being a scholar or his ignorance to all people. Duo answered his questions in his good natured way, he could smoothen even the hardest of people to let them slip away.

As Mr. Copper finally told them to take their seats, Duo walked ahead leading their way as always; he saw the blond boy who was with Heero in the dining hall entrance before, they stared at each other and there was a minute grimace on the blond boy's face right before Duo heard a loud slap behind him. "You could at least acknowledge others who are older than yourself just for polite's sakes, couldn't you, Mr. Yuy-Maxwell..?" he heard the cold admonition. Duo turned around and he saw Heero's cheek turned redder; it was the cheek he'd slapped before.

There was something about Heero that attracts others, that made them didn't want to be ignored by him; sometimes people even sort to physical ways to get his attention. That's why Duo's overly possessive behavior wasn't an exaggeration, in a wider perspective concerning the whole other people and the rest of the world; sometimes he himself got to physical ways just to make sure Heero really saw him and not his imaginary spot floating somewhere in front of his face when they talked. But the right to get physical with Heero was his alone, his mind stated.

"I apologize, Mr. Copper, he's much too shy to open up to his surroundings…!" Duo rushed in between the frowning teacher and his unresponsive younger brother who stopped in his track of following him. But didn't he just say it that even the teachers were just part of the surroundings and not of people...? Quatre's brows shot up in amazement; but the wonderment on his face immediately turned to a neutral mask as he saw Duo without any slightest doubt grabbed the teacher's tie and pulled his body down to kick his midsection with his knee in one fluid motion; despite his smiling angelic face which indeed seemed a little too bright.

There was a cumulative gasp from the class, but other than that the other students were mostly stunned with wide eyes, he didn't pay any attention at them. "So I would very appreciate it if you would just settle everything with me and leave him alone, Sir; he usually doesn't bother anyone, but I do..!" Duo grinned pleasantly.

"If you touch even a single hair on his head or brush his clothes when you pass by, or so happen to step on his shadow somewhere within my sight, I'll gladly rip your limb off one or two…!" Duo said with a mannerly merry tone to the doubled over teacher who coughed up rapidly.

"Go ahead, Heero, I'm going to the Headmaster's office to report myself..!" he said with full smiling face shooing his brother with his hand. Heero didn't spare a glance at them, and the whole class, and just did as he was told to find himself a seat. "…umm.. Go to the Headmaster's office, right? I usually went to the police station to report myself…!" he asked Mr. Copper just as an afterthought; the young teacher tried to straighten his body staring him with flaming eyes. Duo took it as a confirmation and excused himself politely. "Well, then, if you'd please excuse me, Mr. Copper, sir..!" he nodded satisfactorily and turned to the door.

"Just take your seat and I'll deal with you after school…!!!" Mr. Copper almost yelled lividly; underlined that it was a very orthodox school, no one yelled here.

Duo turned back slowly with wide innocently surprised eyes; "…You could do that..?"

Mr. Copper seemed to get caught by his unexpected expression.

"Like…take me in custody for a day with only one call…?" Quatre almost blew up his laughter at Duo's 'naive' question; he was used to spend a night in the police station, alright.

Mr. Copper rolled his eyes, it was unlikely before that but the students proved it to be wrong; "If you so eager to spend the night in custody then we'll lock you up in the reflection chamber, and we'll call your home for you..!"

"Really? Thank you..!" Duo smiled. He paused with a thoughtful face then, "…..you didn't put that kind of chamber in the school map..!" he half accused.

"Just take your seat, PLEASE..!!" Mr. Copper gritted through his neat line of white teeth, Duo couldn't help but notice them.

"Okay..! I mean; yessir, Mr. Copper, sir…!!" he hurried to sit next to Heero, put his books on the desk and arranged his body to sit straight like the rest of the students.

Just as Mr. Copper finished writing his material title, Duo whispered not so quietly to Heero; "Right..? I told you they have that kind of cell in this kind of place..! So where do you think it is, dungeon or roof; c'mon make a bet…!!" The class sweatdropped together, Quatre chuckled silently to his textbook; Mr. Copper made a very long line of a dot on the whiteboard with his marker pen.

"Missterrrrrr Maxwellllll…!! Page 19, pleasssse..?!!" if it were a chalk in his hand it would have been crushed to powder by now.

"Yessir, Mr. Copper..!!" Duo instantly opened his up side down textbook on his desk. By then Mr. Copper's face suddenly turned to a serious mask; "Mr. Chang, how nice of you to grace us with your presence..!" his voice was back to his cold stinging tone. Duo turned his head and found another student uncaringly entered the class back-door with a haughty air around him, he was wearing his jacket tied around his hips and let the couple top buttons of his shirt undone; he noted that the black velvet ribbon was used to tie his thin ponytail at his nape.

"Just came here to watch a scene..!" he said uncaringly with a shrug; "Don't get so riled up, Mr. Copper, that wouldn't work on me, either way. Please continue your job…!" the Chinese boy pulled a chair at the back and sat, Duo noted that the other students ignored the exchange; he glanced at the boy sitting two rows at left side from him and found a penetrating stare of a pair of raven black eyes bore on him. He blinked and stared back to his still up side down textbook, then to the whiteboard.

------------

"Aunt Leon, we're hooomme…!!" Duo called out while opening the door. There was a 5 minutes pause before Aunt Leonore came out from her basement studio.

"You're late..! Hungry?"

"Yes, please..!!" Duo grinned like a Chassire cat while hanging his coat on the hanger standing near the door, then helped his younger brother to take his coat off and changed into the indoor slippers he took out from the closet. They took the wing door for daily use; the main doors were too lavishly nice and made them think they were not in the same world with the one they used to live in before coming to that city.

"Your Headmaster called..!" she said between her chewed pencil while walking to the kitchen, noticing the boys followed her like a line of ducklings from the reflection on the glass of antique clocks and armoires lining the hall. She chuckled to herself at the image. "….again, Duo? It's still first day at school!"

"I won't do it again..!"

"..'Cross your heart and hope to die'..?" Aunt Leon rolled her eyes.

"No. I don't think I would do it again since tomorrow the whole school would find out about me and Heero; that's what notorious teachers are good for, anyway..!" Duo said it with easy tone.

". . . . . . . . for making your warning clear to everyone; I see….!" She replied with a dry tone.

"Yes, you got the point…!" Duo grinned merrily.

"Duo, I couldn't always pull my strings to help you slip away for your misconduct behavior every time you decided to make your point clear..!!" Aunt Leon splat the meshed potato on Duo's plate not so politely.

"Sorry, Aunt Leon..!" Duo said humbly, and his stomach let out the loudest grumbling sound she'd ever heard; he might said it that he was sorry-but-right-now-I'm-too-hungry-to-reflect-on-my-deeds for all she knew. She knew he'd skipped lunch and for getting home after dark with only a little amount of breakfast this morning it was a miracle he didn't jump on every food stand they came across in the way from school.

Aunt Leonore let out a heavy sigh; "….well, I guess you already had an earful of warning yourself. It didn't work the last times I checked, so I'll just let fate decide what will happen to you next time..!!"

"Hehhe..!!" Duo responded with a grin full of meshed potato; Aunt Leon slapped her forehead at that, she was too young to be an authoritative aunty and acted more like an older friend most of the time. But even though she was a very distant-cousin of Duo's mother, their faces looked very much alike; on fast glance people would think that they were twins, so Duo actually listened to her. When he was smaller, some of his neighborhood friends would innocently ask something like 'I thought you said your mother was dead', and that's what drove him away from other people at first, taking refuge in Heero's impassiveness and becoming obsessed over it, over him. It had piled up for over 8 years now that it was too late for grown ups to take care of his obsession over his younger brother, he would see it as disturbance instead and act violently against their meddling now. They were ping-ponged to live with many relatives here and there before they decided to apply for an actual school; Aunt Leonore was too happy to take them in after she finished taking her master diploma.

"Take a shower after you finish, then start unpack again for the things necessary for tomorrow. The rest of the boxes could be taken care of in Sunday after the morning Mass…! And don't accidently put your box of clothes on fire like this morning!!" Aunt Leonore pointed her forefinger at Duo's face.

"Yes, Ma'am..!" Duo mimicked a salute pose; she was the curator of the city's museum and usually had home-works she brought from the museum to her studio. "And don't sleep too late, school started at 7.00..!" she got out of the kitchen, but not even 5 seconds later she stuck her head from the door again. "G'night, boys..!"

"Niiight..!" Duo waved at her with a grin. Heero gave her a slow deep nod; that actually made a pleasant smile bloom on her face before she disappeared to the basement.

------------

_He couldn't breathe, it's not because of the smoke; even though the fire made a very dark shadow silhouetted the small room but the smoke couldn't enter, the darkness didn't let anything enter._

_He could hear his father calling out his name in frantic, soon his voice was swallowed by the sound of fire; he trembled in fright, it was cold, the darkness didn't let him answer his father's calls._

_He wanted to cry, but the darkness didn't let him cry out._

_Just breathe….breathe..! He ordered his body; the shallow mist caught his legs and didn't let him fall and hide. So he kept his head high; as far away as it could from the shallow mist trailing his limbs up._

_A pair of dim blue light stared at him from the darkened wall…_

…_take me……a soft echo entered his head, he tried to shake it in defiance but the darkness didn't let him._

_Take me and you'll live…! The echo whispered sweetly; he remembered he could inhale a little, the darkness let him breathe in…he was breathing in the darkness……_

_RELEASE ME..!!!_

Duo bolted half way to sitting up as the scream in his dream sounded like a thunder penetrating his conscious mind, his eyes jerked open to the dark ceiling of his room and feeling like he was falling into reality he was actually falling back onto his bed. It knocked his breath out of his lungs; he gasped desperately for air when he realized the darkness of his room let him breathe. Coughing up his sore throat, Duo turned to his side folding in on himself. He was cold, his sweat had dampened the bed and the night air cooled it. He realized his braid was undone, perhaps because he was tossing and turning violently; searching blindly for his blanket thinking that he'd kicked it to the end of the bed and not finding it there, Duo sat up and his eyes fell to the missing blanket pooled unceremoniously on the floor.

He groaned and threw himself back to the damp bed and pillow; the cold made a shiver ran up his spine, he jolted off the bed and uncaringly made a knot of his hair rather than try to find a hair band to tie it in the dark. Inspecting the lower floor and the door to the basement from the upper landing of the spiraling stairs down for any sign of Aunt Leon, and finding silence; he then tiptoeing into Heero's unlocked door and slipped into the room without needing the permission. Once he was inside, he reflexively locking the door without even thinking it.

Heero had chosen a smaller room with a window ledge protruding out of the roof; the moon beams fell on the bed through the round window frame and plastered a shadow-cross on the blanket, as if confining him there. The sight gave Duo a different shiver as he felt his body's needs stirring to wake as his eyes traced the shape of a body cocooned by the blanket. Heero was facing the wall and his back presented to Duo as if already offering himself.

Duo swallowed his watery mouth and licked his lips wet. Without needing permission he climbed into the bed and his hand pulled Heero's pants down under the blanket while he rested his body alongside his smaller back.

"Couldn't sleep…?" the subdued whisper made Duo groaned and attack his brother's jaw line with his mouth.

"You weren't hungry last night..!" Duo accused, his left hand circled on Heero's body to his front and slipped under his T-shirt to tease his nipples, while his right hand busied itself teasing his opening.

Heero's body shook a little with what Duo's demanding hands did but he kept his face impassive; "….it's not my fault that you have nightmares..! --!!" he arched his back stiffly a little by the pain when Duo pushed two fingers in roughly as a punishment to his uncaring words.

"You were suppose to eat all my nightmares before I sleep, were you not..?!" he asked huskily, licking the stiff nape feeling every little shudder traveling the small body. "Hmmm…" Duo hummed savoring the taste of his brother's light sweat and the shiver on the taught back that his tongue had made, "Don't make a sound; you don't want Aunt Leon to see this side of you, right..?"

Heero made a wheezing sound deep in his throat, and Duo's member knew the call when Heero was ready to feed. "…..aa…!" Heero's vulnerable little voice drove Duo's mind away and he acted on lusty instinct after that; bolted to his knees he threw the blanket to the bed post, pulled Heero's left leg up roughly spreading him on his back.

Then without cue he pushed himself into Heero in one deep thrust, letting his body fell onto his chest as he crushed his small body and arms in a dead hug. Heero arched his back as the searing pain attacked him without notice; his neck bent backwards burrowing his head into the pillow, his mouth opened wide in a mute scream. Duo held him tightly as his small body shook and jerked in light seizure, when the broken shaking stopped Duo could feel rather than see that his fangs were out; he only had halve a second to gasp in some air before Heero's head snapped forward and planted his wet fangs in his neck. He widened his eyes as their bodies dropped to the bed; and biting the pillow he suppressed his scream as he came heavily when he felt Heero sucked his blood in greedy gulps, filling Heero's cool channel with his hot seed just like Heero filling his own throat with his hot blood.

He didn't remember how long he lost himself in the twisted ecstasy as his head gotten lighter and his vision turned darker with blotchy blue speckles popping up in static image; he came to in Heero's embrace with his small hand stroking the back of his head like petting a cat. He lied there like a boneless sweaty heap in silence, and when he tried to move about 20 minutes later he realized he was still inside of Heero; and still hard.

Duo groaned as a new hot wave stirred inside him by that little movement; he propped his upper body with his elbows and licked the trace of red congealing liquid from around Heero's mouth under him. "You're not in the mood again tonight..!" he breathed as he rocked his hips a little feeling Heero's placid member pressed under his lower abdomen. He didn't wait for an answer for it wasn't a question; instead he kissed Heero's slack mouth open and suckling it clean until he couldn't discern the tangy taste of his own blood inside, after that he took the time to neck him slow and gently.

"The church choir gave you that much of headache today..?" he mumbled to his damp cool skin. Heero's answer was his steady stroke still on his disheveled brunette head, while his eyes tracing an imaginary spot that was floating somewhere under the low sloping ceiling of the roof.

"Why did you even consider submitting yourself to a Catholic School was beyond me…! More over it was the one that uses silver-crosses as uniform accessories!" Duo rolled his eyes; "They're very generous with silverware, you know; did you notice the chandeliers and tableware were all made of silver..?!"

He snorted; "Right, how could you not notice it…!" he corrected himself. Their conversation was usually one sided with only Duo's words like that, but Duo could feel Heero's mind like another brain in the back of his mind, even more when he'd fed on him like just now; it's just that he needed to hear them in words sometimes, wanting to be in the same plane with the rest of the world. "Look, I know you're different from those blood-sucking low-life-substances; but I'm worried about their weaponry, Heero…!"

Heero's eyes stared at him in impassive question; Duo scowled, "You don't think they stocking that much of silverware just for prestige, right..?!" his violet eyes flicked to the school uniform hung neatly on the wall, the silver-crosses glinted as if staring back in the dark. There were a couple of crosses fastened on each cuff, one on the cameo pin, and a bigger and neatly engrafted cross on the rosary; a total six crosses for each student per uniform, remembering that they were given more than one suit meant every student had more than six crosses with them. With the shape of the ends of the cross bars pointed like a stylized small sword; those were undoubtedly weapons, right..?! A chandelier was big enough to be used as a killing weapon to normal humans just by using it as a club to the head, or a stab through the neck; not necessarily through the heart of a vampire.

"They are small..!" Heero said as a passing, referring to the crosses on the uniform; Duo was quite agitated when he found out about the cross accessories on the uniform that morning; of which material Heero never really cared, anyway. Heero didn't get that much bothered by silver, but Duo seemed to see them as a meddling. They got quite a spat over it, hidden from Aunt Leon's knowledge, of course; and Duo turned to his dark side the whole day because of that. But wouldn't wearing a crossless jacket or pin make them stand out more? As if confessing outright about what their natures were…right?

"Well, they have bigger ones in school..!!" Duo said with loud voice to press his importance of it, and Heero reflexively covered his mouth with his, before Duo decided that his sound-filter already turned off and started yelling his arguments and woke up the whole block (that happened more than once before, of which ended with them got kicked out from the resident and passed to another relative that even Duo didn't know of). After that Duo took the kiss as another way of quarreling and used his mouth to conquer Heero's ignorance, but the result was always turned out that he was the one who got himself conquered by his own needs; it showed their levels in their mutual-benefit based relationship, that he's lower than Heero.

Duo closed his eyes, fighting his surging lust down; something wasn't right with that school and he wanted Heero to admit it as well, then he could try and talk him out to cancel their submission. Pulling away from their heated wet kiss, Duo said with flushed face; "I know you think you're that almighty, Heero, but you're still not fully awaken yet..!!"

When Duo opened his eyes after that reasoning he found himself a pair of shining inhuman prussian eyes staring him with an evilly smirking immaculate face; "Really…?"

The husky whisper reverberated with power and hunger blew Duo's hot face to beet red at hearing it; his lower body felt Heero's fully awakened member pressing up. "..aaagh..!" Duo yelped as Heero turned their position, gripping his wrists at either sides of his head while he bent his smaller body crouching above him, and suddenly pulled himself off of Duo's member that was still inside him before; a victorious light shone in his beastly irises as his pupils turned to fiery vertical slits.

Duo made a sound of pain through his gritted teeth, his thighs pressed stiffly together as his hips made a few slow thrusts up in his effort to refrain himself; just seeing Heero's hungry eyes and his long fangs between his smirking lips from his submissive eye-level like that could make him come at once, but sometimes he held his dignity more than necessary. He let out a mewling sound as Heero licked a tear trailing from his closed eyes.

"….you know I don't like taking too much from you..!" he muttered to Duo's ear, then proceeded to slowly lick the fang-wounds on his neck as if apologizing. Duo snapped his head to the side exposing his bitten neck more and made a strangled grunt and bit the pillow hardly as his hips jerked up once.

Heero blinked at his face, looking down at the narrow space between their bodies as he felt a hot liquid spurted to his abdomen. He smiled tenderly looking like an angel for a moment and bent down to Duo's ear; "Shinigami…, my slut..!!" he whispered with a devilish leer slowly.

Duo's chest jerked up as his body wrecked with spasms, and suddenly he flipped their position back and crouched down even with body still had the aftereffect of the spasms; "You called…., my cursed angel..?!" he whispered with the matching devilish leer and opened his eyes showing his black-hollow of irises filling his entire eye sockets leaving two red shining small-rounds as his pupils in the center.

"…'Seemed like you were holding yourself since yesterday..!" Heero said in a very low voice, "Such modesty doesn't apply to you….!" He smirked as he was actually feeling happy; hit Duo's forehead with his, he flipped their positioned again, sitting on Duo's stomach with left hand gripping his right wrist on the pillow and the other one on his neck keeping him down.

"May be I should just quit this boring game and kick your ass back to hell…!!"

Duo chuckled gleefully, his red shining pupils turned to vertical slits; "I could have something more than my own ass in hell..!" his free hand hit Heero's side of head and using his feet around his neck to pull him onto his back behind, Duo easily topped his smaller body; gripped Heero's right hand together with his left still at his own neck with his left hand, Duo kept Heero's body down with his right palm on his chest at the bottom of the cross-shaped shadow casted on his body and head. He let out his darkness and made the cross-shaped shadow blackened, like a seal.

Heero widened his eyes, tried to gasp like a fish out of water; his fingers digging at Duo's neck slackened and as he lost his physical strength Duo let his hands fell unceremoniously down not long after. He then used his left hand to stroke Heero's cheeks and head gently, seeing that his wild eyes had turned serene and his face slackened to his impassive mask again.

"My deserted angel…! The Cross hates you still…." He whispered breathily, conveying his heart with every stroke of his hand. Heero's eyelids drooped then slowly closed; his face looked like he was desperately swallowing back a tear. Duo let out a small moan at that expression, he bent down and kissed all over his face gently.

"I'm here….I won't leave you….!" He whispered huskily, using both hands to embrace Heero's slack body and presenting him his already healed neck.

Heero opened his eyes a little, knowing that Duo used his own body to cover him from the cross-shaped shadow of the window sills. He let out a pained breath slowly, kissed Duo's neck several times and planted his fangs to feed some more. Their bonding ritual usually violent, even bloody sometimes; a little part of them tried to fight themselves but eventually they had to yield to their own needs, leaving them sated but frustrated afterwards. And Duo knew he'd turned himself to a possessive abuser with more passing time, but it was just what things turned out to be; he wouldn't let Heero go.

Duo tightened his embrace and rolled to the side, away from the shadow of the window sills, taking Heero along making him sprawled on top of himself; and while he let Heero feed on him he let Heero claimed his body as well.

And somewhere in the process he was drowned in a dark realm where no nightmare could reach him….

------------

------------

_Saru didn't mean to start another series, but waiting the editor's approval to start another comics was too long; so saru vent out some stress writing this…..please tell saru what you think so saru could decide to continue this or stop (once the approval came saru would be too busy with drawing, BTW). Pleasssse…???_

_For everyone who noticed that saru never play-around to visit other's writings; saru didn't mean to be cooked up in saru's own shell (saru used to read lots of lots of fics before joining FF), it's just that saru got easily affected by other materials (be it books or fics or comics or films that saru used to get lost in saru's head with the plotting/story….hey if anyone noticed, saru watched the –nth-times of re-run of 'Children of the Corn 3' n said to Sister-Snake that "…it's so BL-formated!!" while it wasn't the last time saru watched it –that time perhaps saru haven't gotten this much formated- haahahahaa)_

_Thanx for reading_


	2. second day

**Shallow Mist march 07, 09**

_**Disclaimer**__: G-boys not saru's (not available to buy anywhere; even though saru might have no money to even try make a bargain over Heero…)_

_**Warning**__: critical AU, supernatural beings, no mature contents in this chapter…some OOC, perhaps_

**2. second day **_-weather forecast: cloudy warm with drizzles in the evening_

"It's 6.15, boys..!! I've been calling you for 15 minutes now…!!!" Aunt Leon's voice reverberated through the door panel and the walls, the low sloped ceiling facing the bed made a reflector surface that bounced the voice directly at them.

"If you get your penalty, I don't have time to go to the school for you, you know? I have the Museum exhibition coming up, the City Choir Festival next month consumed my time as well, you do realized that this city lives out from tourism and mostly nothing else…?!" Aunt Leon didn't yell, she only stated it. That's what Duo liked from her; she's a friend…most of the time.

Duo moaned still with closed eyes, but he's getting up nevertheless…or tried to. "….c'mming down, A'nt Leon…!"

Aunt Leon chuckled by the door; "Please be ready when you come down, I'm waiting with your breakfast..!" They heard the sound of the steps getting away, then the sound of someone descending the stairs.

Duo turned to his side, facing the door trying to make at least one of his eyes opened. Pushing his body up with both hands, he yelped and dropped his upper body to the bed again, cursing under his breath.

"…….d'mmmm't…! Heero, at least you could be a little considerate with the activities I need my butts to do it with when you feed on me..? Something like, take for the simplest example: _sitting_!! Before I could get up and started _standing_ and _walking_..?!!" Duo whined into the pillow.

Heero snorted behind him, but he wasn't moving as well. Duo decided to worm out of the bed then, but he tripped on the entangled blanket and suspiciously Heero's foot and dropped ungracefully on his stomach with his lower legs bent up, almost like…you could say….

"You need a parachute and a much longer way down to make that kind of fall…!" Heero sat up and started to fold his blanket neatly. Duo chuckled wryly on the floor. "Get ready, Duo, I don't think your friendly Aunt Leonore actually likes seeing your butts..!!"

Oh, that what makes the chill of the wooden floor seeped through his groin…! Duo looked at his lower body from the side and found that he only had his pajama shirt on; sitting up he saw Heero only had his night long sleeved shirt as well as he walked passed him uncaringly of his half nudeness. Duo realized that it wasn't his night T-shirt he had last night, before the….

"Heero…!" he called as the door to the adjoining bathroom closed; the bathroom had two doors that could also be accessed from his room at the other side, with a shower and a round bath tub, and was bigger than Heero's room which was originally only the extension storage to the main room that Duo used; but Duo preferred to use this side of the door. He followed suit taking his pajama shirt off on his way.

"…what happened with your T-shirt..?" Duo asked dryly, already knew the answer but he wanted to sound apologetic without needing to actually apologizing.

"Floor duster..!" Heero answered uncaringly in the shower; that was not the first shirt dated as the collateral damage and not likely going to be the last. Duo stepped in under the water and squeaked and jumped back and almost losing his foothold if not for Heero's hand catching his waist and pulled him flat to his smaller body.

"..it's freeds-ssing, Heero..!!" Duo gasped out, holding tightly to Heero's body to try to leach some warmth off but his body was of the same temperature with the cold water.

"Sorry…" Heero turned the heater on and let Duo crushed him in his cramped embrace waiting for the water to get warm. He never really minded with such trivial things, be it freezing or scorching.

"Fine…" Duo said after the water got a little warmer than lukewarm, he too didn't like hot water as much as the freezing water; like the other things he preferred in life, nothing too less or too much, just average and normal. He actually liked people…once.

They soaped each other under the shower, it was part of their morning ritual, to access damages they suffered after such a violent ritual they had the night before; and it's faster that way, too, if Duo didn't sulk about what he found on Heero's body that he didn't remember of doing, he never got the full recollection of their night rituals….may be his sane mind didn't want to remember those things he did and erased them from his consciousness. Or did it mean that he was unconscious when he did those things? Like this time, he didn't even understand how he could have given Heero a large cross-shaped bruise on his chest, the horizontal-lines of cross exactly on his neck like a big collar half around it.

"…what?" Heero muttered low, his hands shampooing Duo's long hair without messing the long locks. Duo looked up, his lower eye-level made him clearly see the blackened bruise since he was kneeling in front of his younger brother; he had a beaten puppy's eyes on his face.

"……I did this..?" his whisper was hurting.

"….after you made quite a spat over those small crosses? Yes…!" and Heero never minced his words, be it cold or sarcastic. He cleansed the shampoo suds from Duo's hair with the sprinkler, when he satisfied he applied the conditioner using both hands. Sometimes Duo felt may be Heero think of doing it like bathing a dog, but he always leaned to his shoulders as if embracing him when he was applying the conditioner; it was part of the little details that Heero himself didn't realize of them as endearing.

Feeling like the action was always saying that what he did last night was forgiven, Duo took the bent smaller body to his still sudsy hands and licking the collar-like bruise that faded halfway round his small neck. Then Heero turned the shower on again; Duo yelped and choked on the water as he gasped in some water. "We don't have time for more morning rituals, Duo!"

"…oww, shoot..!!" Duo said with his arteries popping out on his temples.

Walking _normally_ indeed seemed to be a little difficult without grimacing; Duo gritted his teeth getting out of his room fully dressed. By then Heero passed him by looking coldly graceful like nothing happened last night, Duo lengthened his awkward steps catching up to him. "…how come you don't care about it..?!" judging his inspection in the shower, Heero must be feeling more sore than he was.

He snorted, "I have more dignity..!" and he widened his eyes in surprise as Duo swept him up from behind and walled him by the upper landing of the stairs, but before he could word his complain Duo's mouth already attacked his. "How sweeet…!" Duo said between his attacks; Heero hmph-ed long and low objecting to be called sweet into Duo's mouth, he widened his eyes as he felt Duo's hand that was supporting his bent knees wormed up and stroking his groin with his thumb.

"Boys, the breakfast is already cold, and I'm getting hot..!!" Aunt Leon said crossing her hands on her chest thumping her pointed shoe on the middle landing of the stairs. Heero shoved Duo's face up away from his as he heard her.

"Yesssh, Aunt Leon, we're on our way..! Just coaxing Heero to get _down_..!!" Duo said fast with full smile.

"What..?!" Heero muttered with disbelieving eyes as he knew full well what Duo meant under his words; and may be Aunt Leonore saying that she got hot tempered waiting for them, but with what they were definitely doing…could she have something under meaning her words as well…?

"Coming dooown…!!" Duo jumped the stair flights to the middle landing with Heero still in his hands, making Aunt Leon yelped and took a couple stairs down. Heero too didn't expect such action and he grabbed Duo's shoulders in the air; when Duo landed on his feet there was a loud breaking-wood noise from under the landing, and the slits between the platform planks puffed out heavy dusts. Duo blinked as he could see the broken area around his feet.

"Duo Maxwell! Be more considerate with your actions, this house is older than your grandparents..!!" Aunt Leon admonished him with a Curator's voice for once, and Duo actually shrunk.

"Yes, Ma'am…!"

"…sorry..!" Heero muttered, he couldn't help but notice that she had used the word Duo whined out into his pillow….be considerate, right? The chance of her finding out about them made him flushed, and he shrunk a little pushing his head to Duo's shoulder. Aunt Leon might have thought that he was afraid of her when she didn't mean it. She blew her anger in a sigh.

"Well, since your sweet little brother apologized for you as well, I'll overlook it just this once..!" she gave the warning stare to Duo's grinning face. But there she did it again, didn't she? She repeated Duo's word, calling him sweet…!

"What school started at 7.00…?!" Duo complained with a mouthful of food, Heero moaned his complain in case Duo rained some of his breakfast to his hair from behind.

"Some schools in other countries started at 6.30..! Don't speak through your food, Duo!" Aunt Leon said from her mug of what ever brew of healthy-juice-with-yucky-color, she had the-stare in her eyes at their sitting arrangement.

"It's faster this way..!" Duo offered since she definitely didn't approve of them having a breakfast from one plate and Duo seated Heero in front of himself on the same chair.

"….definitely not..!!" Heero muttered under his breath fighting Duo's fork with his for the last sausage and trying to pull them apart as the prongs stuck together. "Love you too, Heero…!" Duo kissed the back of his head to cover his objection. "…aaaaggh..!!" Heero grabbed a table napkin and held it to Duo since he knew Duo kissed his hair with a sticky mouth.

Aunt Leon chuckled at their antics, having children around could be entertaining sometimes; she scanned the articles of the newspaper cursorily and her eyes clouded a little.

"Race you to school…!!" Duo exclaimed once they got out on the streets.

"Don't startle the horses, Duo..!" Aunt Leon said in front of her carriage door but knowing that Duo was already running away from the gate, she sighed to herself.

Heero reflexively ran following him with a surprised face; "…wait..!" he slapped himself mentally at the childish squeak coming out from his mouth, and his face flushed at the smiling tourists on the streets and on the curved bridge and on the gondolas that happened to find their behavior endearing as another worth-seeing performance.

"Come on, we're going to be late..!!" Duo offered him his hand and pulled him through the morning-crowd tourists who cheered and took a shoot or two of them with their cameras. "Good luck..!" an elderly lady waved from a café by the street alongside the canal, Duo waved back at her grandmotherly smile.

"It's embarrassing, Duo..!!" Heero gritted with low voice, noticing the people stared at them when they passed.

Duo laughed, "Whaat..? Give the tourists something memorable about us having to race with the time in order to get to the flashy school before 7.00…!!"

"Or else these flashy silver-crosses would be for nothing..!" their coats flapped in the wind behind them like wings.

------------

"You are late, gentlemen, this school starts at 7.00..!!"

Duo gave a tolerating grin at the same Japanese-doll looking teacher who opened the class door for them, so the teachers here could teach more than one subject. "We got lost finding this class…!" Duo said with face flushed from running; his stomach hurt since he ran just after having his meals.

Ms. Wintergreen, whose name bated Duo's curiosity since she was undoubtedly Japanese-looking, wasn't impressed with his reason apparently. "Doesn't everyone in their first days of school?"

"…so sorry, Ma'am!" Duo stared at his shoes. He'd thought of getting familiar with the school area yesterday as well, in fact it was his plan before they got an earful of warning in the Headmaster's office for more than 3 hours, and he was too hungry to take the adventure around the fortress of school after that.

The beautiful teacher seemed to take pity of them anyway; "So, were you two late together, or one of you made the other late…?"

"Ma'am…?"

"I'll write one late record only for one of you; so who was it..?"

Duo reflexively pointed at himself rather than lifted his hand; he realized what his hand was doing, and he smoothened his action by scratching his head. "I think I got late, and since my brother was always behind me I got him late as well…!"

"Sadly, I think you are honest, Mr. Maxwell…!" Ms. Wintergreen said in flat mockery and the class chuckled at that, it showed that she was not as stiffly strict as Mr. Copper. "No running on the corridor, by the way..!"

"Ckk..! I thought no one saw that!" and Duo had enough guts to exchange mockery with teachers; well, of course, he had enough guts to openly attack a teacher yesterday.

"…but I accumulate the records from all the subjects I teach, Mr. Maxwells; please remember that..!" Ms. Wintergreen said when they walked to their seats, making Duo stopped suddenly and Heero bumped to his back.

"EEEEEHH…?!! That's not fair…!!!" Duo exclaimed accusingly, the class laughed at his expression and Heero, feeling exposed, pushed his back with one hand while his other hand at his bumped face.

"Waah, I see you can figure out the solution to not get late again, Mr. Yuy-Maxwell; next time, please make sure to push your brother's back when the bell almost ringing…!" Ms. Wintergreen smiled merrily, Heero sweatdropped at her remark, he hated it when someone could backfire Duo's justification at _him_; the class chuckled again but stopped almost instantly when she put her neutral mask again turning to the whiteboard.

------------

The students were divided with their shield colors, apparently; at which Duo inspected with a major relief since he was upgraded to a silver one although without knowing the reason, but he was grateful that he didn't have to have separate tables with Heero. He noticed that the students stared at them while they marched in lines into the dining hall where the teachers and Headmaster already waited in their seats, but they looked away when he encountered their stares; he thought that they already got that famous right after school yesterday, he was satisfied with the outcome so far, that nobody dared to bother his younger brother.

A flash of bright angelic smile blinded his vision for a second; Quatre turned his head forward again, as if only inspecting that they didn't get lost in the line. …._as if anyone could…!_ Duo complained.

_There's something wrong with this blond kid…!_ Duo thought. Quatre was taking the task of being their shepherd right after the 6-tolls sounded, gliding on the corridor just to get to them with unbelievable speed, seemingly minding the 'no running on the corridor' rule. Duo just didn't have time to decline since he was busied his brain cells off trying to decipher how that petit boy did it; he sure thought he'd need that kind of skill; that when Quatre said that Trowa got Heero's back they were already couldn't escape the other odd-pair.

"The end-seats are reserved for attendants, so it would be easy to find them when the importance came…!" Quatre offered taking the end seat with Trowa took the one across him. Duo stared at the two empty seats, one next to Quatre and one next to Trowa, which suspiciously were intentionally left empty by the others. "Please sit down, the others usually too awkward to seat next to us..!" Quatre smiled his vision-blinding smile again.

Duo decided that he would just follow the others' sitting arrangement and took the seat next to Trowa seeing that he had the same pin with the tall boy and Heero's the same with the blond boy; he noted that there were several others who had the silver gold-rimmed pin lining next to Heero, and a few more from that number of the ones with black-rimmed pin. Duo frowned at his meals, his paranoid mind going hyper with his suspicions, what with the shield-shaped pins with crosses of swords in such a fortress-like estate; didn't this whole pin issues are like those in the military to state someone's ranks or something..?!

------------

The Friday Mass wasn't that alerting, as Duo found himself almost nodded off the entire time. There wasn't much issue with the Holly Water, as well, and the other ceremonial activities in the Mass; he knew Heero only had bad reaction with crosses when it was cut or engraved on his body, and there almost nothing else of him being related with those vampire-related things commoners knew as urban-legends or myths.

"We still have class after Mass…?" Duo asked loudly in their ways to the school buildings again, the trees alongside the stone pathway shaded them and made the ceaseless whispering-leaves sounds back-sounding the students' voices.

Quatre laughed, "It's the Music-challenge Class; we usually had an hour break before we have extension-class periods..!"

"Music-challenge? What is that..?!" Duo grimaced somehow knowing that the answer wouldn't be to his liking.

"Some kind like an audition, for the City Choir Festival next month..!"

"And what exactly are we doing in class, and in the City Choir Festival, exactly…??" Duo asked dryly.

"Originally it was the music class; the teacher, Ms. Yula, gave us the challenge of composing some musical piece for at least 2 or 3 instruments in 2 weeks; it's some kind of quiz assignment. The students passed the audition could perform in the Festival..!"

"….Paaasss…!!" Duo made a chopping gesture with his hand widely.

Quatre chuckled but passing his musical notebook from somewhere under his jacket, Duo blinked only thinking where exactly did he put it, and passed it to Heero behind him who flipped the pages cursorily and gave it back to Duo. "Piece-a-cake I don't like eating…!" he stated when returning it to Quatre.

"Well, seeing that you wouldn't have the time to make the challenge as audition, the teacher would still take it as assignment after this whole Festival ends…!" Quatre chuckled as Duo groaned loudly while slapping his forehead in exaggeration.

"The important thing is not the good grade, but that you would try to do it, Duo!"

"Yea, everyone said that..!" Duo muttered under his breath; but somewhere in his mind he was quite curious with Quatre's pairs assignment, seeing that the tall reticent Trowa hadn't speak a single word since their introduction. From others eyes, wouldn't the Quatre-Trowa pairs look very much alike with their brothers-pairs…?

"Wait…extention-class..?!" Duo snapped his head; Quatre only chuckled and gave him friendly pats on his back. "What extention-class?! They didn't put it in the schedule I received…!!"

"Heero..?!" Duo looked behind, but his younger brother was busy picking which imaginary spot he'd choose in the afterimage of the halo on the blond head in front of him, the sun beams coming through between the tree shades made the halo appeared and disappeared randomly, like…_halo-ON...halo-OFF...no, ON-OFF-ON again…oh, OFF...!_ Knowing what he's thinking made Duo brushed his face down open-palmed hardly, like taking off a mask of patience. "You're a maniac, you know..!!" he accused with a very loud voice that everyone near them stared, even the silent Trowa behind him, and the always smiling Quatre by his side.

Heero turned his face at him with wide inquiring eyes; he didn't understand where that came from but seeing that Duo already ignored him he stared back at his still undecided spots.

------------

There were a few good skilled students tried their chance with the challenge in front of the music class that Duo really wanted to flee the assignment; he flicked his eyes at Ms. Yula who was taking notes at the performances near the piano by the windows, she was the portrait of elegant and beautiful elderly woman with compelling air. Duo sighed his complains to the air. Without him taking full attention at the class it was already Quatre's team walking to the front, Duo realized that there were the three of them with Quatre on violin, Trowa on piano, and another on cello; he first thought that Quatre would team with only Trowa.

The first sight of the other student would shock everyone who saw his face, thinking that it was definitely a girl's face; Duo thought he'd seen that face somewhere, what with his long straight black hair like a Japanese-doll…. _A small Ms. Wintergreen!_ His brain-cells exclaimed in unison and made a victorious dance circling his brain cavity. Duo noted that there was expectation in the others' faces and Duo squinted to see the _Ms. Wintergreen-miniature_'s pin just before the neck of the cello covered it. _Full-black shield..?_

The three started their piece and Duo had his mind flying somewhere, he could feel than heard the class sighed together silently and he had to admit that the three's play was way above the others before them, he flicked his eyes to Ms. Yula again and saw that she didn't take notes and just enjoyed their piece with a satisfied smile on her face. A silent movement broke Duo's trance besides him, and Duo widened his eyes as he saw Heero stood up from his chair; he knew what he was going to do but his hand missed Heero's jacket as he tried to pull him to his seat back.

Quatre saw Heero walked behind the class and stood face to face with him linked by the pathway between desks in the middle of the class, he had his eyes closed and his body relaxed with a trace of a smile on his lips; Quatre thought that Heero was showing his appreciation to their piece and he smiled, he was used to Trowa's sudden unexpected moves and knew that the silent-ones usually had their own ways to show their thoughts beyond words. Duo bent his body on the desk hiding his head with both hands sweating heavily, perhaps he was a little minding the attention caused by his younger brother, Quatre assumed; but by then Heero opened his mouth and the class' trance broke pulling the students' attention to the back of the class.

The windows of classrooms were usually opened at the walls to the outside or terraces, since the tall ceilings of the corridors made the voices reverberated through out the channels. The music class had soundproof glass as windowpanes, but it was so happen that someone already knew the music piece of the three was expected by others as well that he left the windows to the corridors opened and Ms. Yula overlooked them as well. The one hour before extension-class was usually used by the students to read or relax around the school, and that's why they who heard something unusual from the music class came there to see what was happening.

Ms. Yula stared widely at Heero who was singing some children prayer using a girl's voice following the notes he'd seen in Quatre's music book before; it was such a sweet childish little girl's voice that was unlikely heard in an all-boys school that others started to crowd on the corridors and terrace to see whose singing it was. Duo knew that it was the voice that Heero had heard somewhere and languages he'd read somewhere he was using, just as the note was seen even cursorily in Quatre's music book, that had caught Heero's attention enough to move him.

Duo sighed; now everyone would flock around Heero after what he did to keep them away.

"How many languages is he using? He's insane..!" Duo could read someone's lips who was watching from the corridor between the crowds; he knew Heero used many languages ignoring the grammatical rules and forms but it all made sense to him, may be not to others.

There was a collective hum of surprise heard silently when Heero suddenly changed to the prayer song of a mother, using undoubtedly the voice of… "Ms. Wintergreen…?" the students outside the classroom murmured; that voice made the said person's _miniature_ playing the cello stared at Heero with something glinted in his eyes, then it seemed that he took it as a game and played along.

Duo scowled at Heero feeling a little jealous; so Heero indeed liked Ms. Wintergreen's voice..!

The piece was originally written for 6.45 minutes and they had played it for almost 9 minutes as they repeated it since Heero didn't stop singing when it was originally suppose to be ended, but Ms. Yula seemed to be interested more anyway.

Heero's prayer turned to a grandparent's song using the none other's voice of… "The Headmaster..?" Ms. Yula murmured with her white brows shot up in pleasant surprise. Quatre almost chuckled at the others' faces he could see clearly from his standing spot in front of the class; Duo banged his forehead to the desk producing a loud enough noise but nobody cared to notice it, even of his pained moan.

……_Heero…when someone faked the Headmaster's voice to do something illegal, you'd be the first in the list of suspects instead of a voice-faking computer…!!_ Duo moaned in his head.

Undoubtedly the Headmaster's singing voice moved the other teachers to watch as well, probably because they fully knew that the Headmaster couldn't sing that good. Duo sighed making a pile of Duo-goo on his desk; some beautiful things could make someone melt on the spot, alright..! He leered ironically, he admitted that he enjoyed Heero's singing; he just didn't want the attention of others afterwards. Some arteries popped out on his head at the thought.

Quatre knew that Heero was going to end his song when he altered the three voices in turns as a dramatization, he sighed silently since the surprise of Heero's voice-technique started to weigh on his play. When a gasping murmur heard in unison right after Heero closed his lips together ending the song with a long fading hum, and the sound of the instruments died slowly; Quatre knew he had to fill in before the crowd started to make applause and gave the still tranced Heero a heart attack.

"I am most honored, Heero Yuy-Maxwell..!" Quatre bowed and stated it formally.

Heero heard his voice and opened his eyes slowly, he stared a little unfocusedly at the bowing blond on the opposite side of the class before him, and glanced at the crowding people filling the corridor, and to the people crowding the terrace blocking any exit it may had, then to the class in general who seemingly waiting for him to say something with their shining curious eyes. Heero blinked and looked down trying to find his missing imaginary spot somewhere with no people's attention ruining it. He moaned and fell behind like a timber.

"Heero…!" Duo's ready hands caught him with his opened jacket instantly wrapped his upper body and head, and cushioned his falling with his own body.

Quatre sweatdropped, _so he still had his shock, anyway_…his mind sighed. The _Ms. Wintergreen-miniature_ chuckled beside him, "…he's not bad..!" Quatre heard him murmured.

"Is he alright?" Ms. Yula approached the brothers on the floor; Duo dismissed her worry face with a waving hand, and later realized it as perhaps an impolite gesture in such an orthodox school.

"He's okay, he just sometime acted along with his impulsive pulls and regretting the attention he earned afterwards…!" Duo half chuckled. Ms. Yula kneeled down and checked Heero's hand with a simple touch but pulled her hand back when Heero jerked with surprise and heaped his body feebly to Duo who gathered him in his hand, still covering his younger brother's head with his jacket and an encircled hand.

"He's ice-cold..!" Ms. Yula said disapprovingly.

"Yes, he has hypothermia most of the time, and when he's shocked or nervous he usually got his temperature drop..! I'll just warm him up…'say, like…home??" Duo inquired with wide eyes.

Ms. Yula sighed while standing up, "Very well, I'll report your leave to--…"

"….mm….-ngh…ex..its…!" Heero moaned some unintelligible words but the music teacher's ears could hear his word.

"Exit..! Yes!!" Duo rolled his eyes, "People you have gathered are blocking your exits, alright..!" he muttered a little mockingly.

"Is he, by chance, agoraphobe…?" Ms. Yula bent her body down and asked in understanding; too bad but she had thought of asking Heero to join the Choir Festival some moments before.

"Of course he is, if not he won't be using my body as a shield every time we go outside..!" Duo answered matter of factly, but his expression made the teacher chuckled in pleasant acceptance and shoo him to take his brother home.

Duo swept Heero's body in his hands and hurriedly fled the school and the staring flocks; he brought Heero home on his back, wrapped in his loose coat and his head covered by the hood all the way to the mansion in the middle of the city; Heero always chose a hoodie-coat for that reason.

------------

"…Duo, there was a call from the dorms from a boy named Quatre..!" Aunt Leon opened the door to Heero's room with a tray of pastries and two mugs of hot milk.

"I'll take it..--!" Duo stood up but Aunt Leon gave him a gesture to sit back.

"I already hung up..!" She did say 'was', "That kindhearted boy just wanted to know how your brother was doing, perhaps he felt half responsible for what happened; I told him that once he got back home Heero lost his voice and was almost unconscious..!"

"Whaat..?" Duo gaped, "…wouldn't that make him worry more?"

"But it's the truth! It's not fair I alone worrying about what I don't understand with your brother's condition; so I plagued other..!" Aunt leon stuck her tongue childishly.

Duo slapped his forehead, "…how come it's his responsibility, if any they were the victims..!"

"That's why I intentionally made him feel bad…!" Aunt Leon made a twisted V-sign, something like a crossed-fingers sign combined with Mr. Spock's greeting sign.

Duo leered dryly at her from his seat at the edge of Heero's bed, "……how could you handle a sponsor meeting as a Curator..?!"

She grinned innocently-guilty; it's the Legacy of the family. "Oh…right..!" Duo commented dryly looking at the ceiling, she chuckled to herself.

Heero's body jerked once and his head turned a little with an uncomfortable frown; Aunt Leon stared at Duo alertly, inquiring with her eyes. Duo bent and rubbed his back, whispering some words of comfort; "…Aunt Leon's here..!"

At that Heero forced open his eyes and managed a slit, his stare was unfocused and wavering; he searched her image for some time before wording something weakly. "He said he's sorry to make you worry, you should just go back to your works and let me take care of him..!" Duo translated. She could read lips as well and knowing Duo translated Heero's key words into a full sentence.

"I don't mind worrying myself over you too, Heero…" she smiled, "Rest well and get better soon, okay?" with that she dismissed herself after gesturing to Duo about the tray of snacks and milks, Duo nodded even though he knew Heero wouldn't be able to swallow anything right now.

When they're alone, Duo locked the door and took his clothes off, then wormed into bed and slowly striped Heero without exposing him to the night air outside the heavy blanket; he lied embracing Heero with his hands and feet, grimacing at his cold temperature. The sound of the silent drizzles on the roof and windowpane heard ceaselessly; it was already dark outside, Heero inquired with his eyes asking about the time.

"…almost tomorrow..!" Duo sighed with a scowl.

So it's some time near midnight, Heero thought; he didn't remember being out of it for that long of time, though.

"What were you thinking…?! Singing _prayers_ like that..!!" Duo gritted low. "You know you're hurting yourself..!!" his voice were tearful but his eyes were dry, flashed with anger; but was grateful enough that he didn't use his voice to sing those prayers or else he wouldn't hear Heero's voice for a long time if not ever again.

Heero burrowed his hands between their bodies; '…I want you to hear it, too…..' he worded slowly.

"Hear what? I definitely had an earful of it, Heero; me and everyone..!!" Duo knew he exaggerated his anger, or jealous; because he didn't want to share his Heero. Heero's eyes drooped at that and Duo regretted his lashing a little. '……I missed…that ethereal sound…' he used to live in that heavenly world.

'I want you to hear it, too….even though it was nothing close to what I used to hear……'

Heero turned his head down, away from Duo's angry and hurt eyes; '….but I want you to know that I once part of such miracle as well…!' his darkened eyes seemed hurting, Duo could hear his voiceless words in his heart. For a creature cursed to have a heartless existence, what could he do to share his heart out? ….he let others to have a brush of his soul, even though he was spiritually injured afterwards.

"I never thought of you as heartless, Heero…!" Duo whispered, and Heero knew that as well; he just wanted…..

'……at least I kept everyone away…!' he stated.

"How so?!"

Heero smiled at his face; '….no one would try and force me to join in some activities that had anything to do with many people after this…! I'm a chronic agoraphobe, right?'

Duo blinked; after some minutes he found his mind again, "…you planned that?"

Heero snorted, 'If I have to go down, I'd go down with dignity..!'

Duo's surprised eyes glinted with lust after that, "…I can manage to go _down_, now…!" he rocked his hips playfully.

Heero smacked his upper arm, '…I'll throw you out the window..!'

Duo chuckled, "I know, I know…I wouldn't want to do _it_ with a frozen Heero-goo, anyway..!"

After that, with the drizzling rains singing the silent lullaby, they didn't even know it when they had fallen asleep; but the nightmares left them alone for that one night. Somewhere in Duo's dream of darkness he could hear a little voice singing a prayer song accompanying him all along…a prayer song that had accompanied him from before birth, but his mind couldn't remember it through that long of ages.

------------

------------

_So here goes….saru checked the e-mail everyday using the cellphone, waiting that editor's approval that still hasn't come; and out of boredom saru checked the junkmail folder, and BAM..! There's an e-mail from the editor there dated the feb 28. And saru just : …WHHHYYYYYY DiD iT SENT iNTO THE JUNKMAiiiiLLL…???!!_

_But when saru opened it, it was just a notification mail to wait for the approval and said that at least the news would be sent this week…..n what did saru get hysterical for…? -hiks- _

_Saru is listening to KOKIA most of the time now, finding a song that saru used to theme-song the comics (that still hasn't approved yet…) for working, thus saru made Heero sing in this fic, because KOKIA's Lolita-voice is so adorable…-melted into a monkey-goo…-_

_Thanx for reading_


	3. third day

**Shallow Mist march 15, 09**

_**Disclaimer**__: G-boys not saru's (not available to buy anywhere; even though saru might have no money to even try make a bargain over Heero…)_

_**Warning**__: critical AU, supernatural beings, violence, mature contents : male x male bonding, language, abusive Duo, NCS_

**3. third day **_-weather forecast: cloudy-windy day with bursting fire at night_

Aunt Leon stared widely, distractedly sipping the mug of her usual healthy-juice-of-yucky-color and actually choked on the thick liquid for once.

"……you don't have to force yourself to get up, Heero…!" she said once her coughing resided.

Heero gave a slow deep nod as his excuse; Duo stared from his chair chewing slowly on his breakfast. "He just wanted to show you that he's better, and to not make you worry your day off...!"

Aunt Leon stilled for some long seconds, and she shook herself to the present realizing that the newspaper was wet by the juice spill, fast wiping the pages with a table napkin she cleared her throat once and tried some words. "Well, I…" She frowned, "…how's your voice?"

"Still mute…!" Duo actually poked his brother with his fork, chuckled when he shoved it away with the back of his smaller hand with a cute frown on his face.

"……should I call a doctor or anyone…?" Aunt Leon folded the newspaper and set it aside.

"No, no…!" Duo waved his fork, "His voice will come back eventually…; when he felt safe enough to open up!" the last part sounded like a critic than an explanation. Heero only stared at his tea-mug and turned it around in his hands.

"Oh……how long?" Aunt Leon asked flatly with critical eyes.

"Does it matter, Aunt Leon? I will be his voice like the most of the time, if you're weighing it on him it would take longer for his voice to return because he got depressed..!"

"No, I didn't mean to…" she sighed, "I can't help but be concerned, right? The both of you are in my care now; and I couldn't take care of you properly ever since after your parents passed away due to my studies and field-trips…and when you finally here I couldn't do anything with something like this?" she frowned at her self.

"-mmh…well…" Duo swallowed his mouthful of breakfast, "…even I couldn't do anything for something like this..!" his hand put the fork on his plate and messed with his brother's hair. "His voice would return when it wants to return; although it's quite rare to have him actually lost it due to surprise or shock; he usually decided that he refused to let it out deliberately…!"

"It's not alerting, mostly. He would feel more fidgety for some more days; but he'll squeak out sooner or later, I'll just have to keep him closely companied…!!" Duo's right brow twitched up suggestively at him when he said it. Heero's face flushed knowing what Duo meant; and that he actually dared to flirt openly in front of Aunt Leon, he hoped Aunt Leon didn't notice what Duo implied.

"Hmmm…" she didn't look convinced but knowing she couldn't help beside not pressuring him; she was grateful enough that Heero didn't put her in the same list of everyone else and actually looked up to her as a family member; she couldn't feel more greedy than that, she guessed. "Okay…!" she shrugged one shoulder up; "I'm going to be late tonight; there's some sponsor who wanted me to show them the city around, you two going to be fine at home? I already called in sick for the both of you…!"

"Really?!" Duo was too excited for her judgment, but she let him for now; it's enough that he didn't do anything vandalistic and being home maybe decreasing the chance of him attacking people he barely knew at random, like mostly everyone in this town. "How many days…?!"

"How many days do you need?"

Heero only blinked at her, she turned to Duo who turned his head from his brother to her as well; Duo shrugged, "We'll see, I guess…! I don't think it would take too long, though. Heero was just being tired with adapting to new places, right, Heero?"

It was Heero's turn to shrug slowly; and Aunt Leon seemed to be satisfied enough with that.

------------

_The snow was falling down silently, the scenery he saw through the windowpane was so little, only of falling snow and dark night sky; the window frame's shadow fell on him sitting on the floor like a cage of crosses confining him, but he welcomed the touch of that curse. Why was it that people made window frames of crossing bars mostly? Since it's the easiest form, he guessed, but may be they too seek sanctuary of that form, of some imaginary cross-shape shadows silhouetted their warm lit room that the vampires wouldn't want to intrude from the outside. So, what should one of such kind do when he's trapped inside? Under the shadow of the window which he wasn't allowed to open even if he were able to touch it…?_

_The voices of screeching woman heard even from two floors below; he didn't want to hear the row but his inhuman hearing could hear it perfectly, if only those humans could be as silent as the snow…-_didn't they afraid of Duo hearing them when he got back?

_The attic door banged open and Duo barged in still fully dressed, as if answering his thought; he had two medium sized shoulder bags with him and a dark shade on his face. Pulling him to his feet without saying a thing, Duo dressed him with thick clothes and his outing coat, covering the fur-lined hood onto his head and pulled his hand downstairs._

"…_--that's why I told you we didn't have anything to object…!" a man's voice yelled sounding exasperated, a crashing sound followed as a wineglass flung to the mantelshelf, the alcohol drink spattered to the fire made the flame burst lively for a moment._

"_But I had enough of that …_thing…_!! Seeing him make me depressed..!! Even just the thought of him being in the same building creep the hell out of me!! I couldn't sleep at nights; I couldn't eat..!!" a woman's voice screamed; "…And he could be anyone's kid, right? A criminal's or even a psycho's rape victim's kid, may be..!! Who knows what he could do to other people!!"_

"_Or a whore's _product_, for all I knew, attaching the Maxwell's surname to an unworthy name like that, what an insult to us; why did you have to take that kid in--?!!"_

"_Shut up, woman..!!"_

"_IF YOU COULDN'T REJECT THE MAIN FAMILY'S ORDER, THAT'S FINE TO TAKE THE MAXWELL---!!"_

"_I SAID SHUT YOUR MOUTH..!!" -_and they gasped together like a pair of goons trying to play the antagonists_, he could read in Duo's mind._

"_We're out…!" Duo said coldly, his face stated that he could kill anyone right now; the Hostess clamped her mouth and jerked a step behind as Duo glanced at her -_if she was so mindful of what Duo would do to her then wouldn't it be better if she was mindful of what words coming out her mouth as well?

"…_wha..?" the Host staggered to his feet from his flashy comfy chair; Duo didn't want to even breathe the same air with them anymore so he actually yanked his hand to leave them._

"_WAIT..!!" he could hear his desperate tone, "Duo…my wife was just getting hysterical because she's still receiving her medication, okay..?! Don't get so worked up over such petty quarrel, married couples used to have such thing at home, alright…?!" And what a nonsense he tried for excuse. _

'_Perhaps that's the only thing his sorry brain could extract from his shitty mind right now…!' He could feel Duo's shadow jeered out as it leered on the floor._

"_Of course… I know it's not something children should witness, but…please..?!" the man walked hurriedly behind them, Duo paid no heed to even bother to make a remark or cynical retort; he just wanted to leave that cursed place and perhaps planted some curse to it's owners while on their way. _

_Heero turned for a glanced at the paled man behind, the said man stopped on his trek as he encountered the stare in one of his dim eyes from between the cover of the thick fur-line. And as he shrunk and bumped himself to the wall as if wanting to jump into a hole for safety, Heero looked forward at Duo's rigid back again; trying to widen his hurried steps to match Duo's angry march dragging him along._

"…_.-Aunt Leon? 'Duo..!!" the telephone box's light looked warm in the dark winter night, there were no moths or other insects gathered to the light, though. It was so cold that even the streets was empty of late drunkards to be walk around singing some stupid drinking song thinking that the drinks made them warm enough._

"…_WHAT?!! They dared to lock Heero up in the attic for days while I'm gone…!! You want me to talk them out?!!" Duo yelled in the phone box._

"_I'm sorry, I'm not yelling at you! I just couldn't hold myself from burning that jerk-couple in that shitty house if I have to endure being in there for even just one minute more…!!"_

"_No..!! Did you know that they starved him with only a blanket in the cold attic while they threw some stupid party celebrating their GOOD-RELLATIONSHIP WITH THE MAXWELL FAMILY JUST BECAUSE THE MAIN FAMILY ASKED THEM TO HAVE US FOR A COUPLE OF MONTHS…?!!" the glass of the phone box shook with his outburst._

"_If I have to go back there I wouldn't hesitate to hold a knife and gave a few stabs at their brains…!!" Duo's voice held some lunatic joy in it; perhaps he imagined of doing it as his other hand made some jerky stabbing movements onto his thigh unconsciously. "…'see if they ACTUALLY HAVE BRAINS…!! Perhaps I'd just find shitty mud leaking from their brain cavities instead…!!"_

"_No, I don't care about my language, if you could understand halve of what I'm feeling right now..?!!"_

"…_--alright…! I know!" Duo breathed heavily as he listened to the phone. "Yes…!"_

"_It's snowing out here, so please do it right away since we don't have matches we could light to warm ourselves with…!" Duo had stopped yelling meant good, they could go to a warmer indoor soon._

"_No, I'm not being sarcastic; I tried a joke or was it too matter-of-factly…?" Duo frowned._

"_Yes, it's freezing; Heero's not well either. I don't see cabs in such suburban streets such as this place, I'll just carry him on my back to somewhere with civilization…"_

"_Okay……sorry to bother you in your excavation site, Aunt Leon. Bye…!"_

"_Let's go Heero, Aunt Leon said she's calling someone she could trust downtown..!"_

"_Hey, Heero…!" Duo patted his brother's cheek softly as he was using the bags as pillow, heaped on the side of the phone box looking so pale-white in the light. "Don't fall asleep; you'd die if you sleep outside in this weather…!" Heero frowned and moaned something, got up somewhat and leaned to Duo's shoulder seeking some warmth or just his touch._

_Duo sighed, pulling a folded cloth from his bag. "I guess I prepared a blanket just in case…!" he wrapped his brother's small body with it and carried him on his back, dragging the bags on the sidewalk. "Man, you're light..! How many days did those goons starve you…?!" talking to himself might ease his anger a bit, so he talked about many trivial things along the way; hoping to find a trucker's inn or convenience store where they could take a warm shelter and some civil humans before Aunt Leon's friend find them and brought them to a hotel to stay until they got sent to another relative that he wasn't really eager to meet._

------------

Duo opened his eyes in a start, finding the ceiling of his room stared him back mutely; he didn't know why that memory resurfaced in his half-conscious dream, he's sure he didn't even want to remember about those people. That happened about four years ago and he'd had many more memories overlaid it, some were better and some were worse.

He was just finished unpacking his few boxes of belongings and while he lied on his bed afterwards he'd fallen asleep. There was a maid girl standing next to his door outside his room who seemingly didn't know what to do when she found him there but was told to clean up his room. He guessed he never actually met her since he and Heero spent the most time in school since they got to that mansion.

"I'm sorry; did I stall your work…?" Duo stuck his head out not wanting to catch the maid off guard, but she jumped in surprise anyway (-well, of course..!).

"Waahhh…! I'm sorry I didn't mean to intrude your privacy…!!" the girl said fast that her words seemed a little too…implying..? Did she peep on him sleeping and enjoy the view? Duo blinked at her beet red face as she realized what had come out her mouth, he smiled to ease her.

"It's okay, I was just unpacking since I get the day off. You're here to clean up my room?" She nodded to that.

"I already did some cleaning up myself, so perhaps you just need to vacuum the rugs…?"

"…but, Master Duo…"

"Aww…just 'Duo', please. I'm not that distant with people…!" Duo waved her.

"I can't do that…! The Head-maid will kill me…!!"

Duo tsk-ed, scratching behind his head; "Right…!"

Since there's no coaxing her out of it, Duo let her do her job and retreated to Heero's room. His brother said (mutely) that he'd read some books in the library a floor below their room and pushed him to arrange his belongings in the mean time. He checked his watch and found that it had passed more than two hours since he parted with Heero; a little pull made him check outside the window and what he saw in the garden down made him scowl.

The mansion was built in a u-form basically, since the outer sides were facing the streets with only some elevated terraces of marble stair-flights and high fences separating the sidewalks and the narrow stone yard; while the garden was in the inner space half-circled by the building inside the estate. That's why it was preserved for the residents of the household only and couldn't be seen from the outside, since the building was three floors tall with a high almost-pointy roof barricaded with stone borders like those of a fortress. The garden space was wide enough to have its own viveyard for its own winery, which was one of the city's unique sites of every old mansion. The front side of the garden near the house was usually planted with flowering plants and used for much leisure purposes than cultivation.

The gardener was taking care of the garden since it was the beginning of the spring; his experienced old hands tended the flowerbeds and new leaves gently. As the old man drowned in his work, he didn't notice someone approached him until his scissors fell from his laps and he saw a pair of feet on the ground a little behind him when he bent down from his foldable stool. The gardener jumped in surprise and dropped his scissors again; he sighed with an awkward smile when he found that it was the new Master-of-the-mansion's younger brother standing with a book of plants embraced tightly to his chest.

The Lady had reminded everyone that the younger one of the brothers was a little too reserved and they were to not bother him much, if anything they should speak to the older one instead. The warning was a bit too much pressed by the Lady that the gardener felt a little unnerved finding the said boy behind him. He tried an awkward good morning.

Heero bowed slowly at the old man's greeting.

"What can I do for you, Sir…?" the gardener smiled. Heero opened the book in his hand and showed the man the hand-drawn illustration of a flower that piqued his interest while he was reading.

"Ohh…Fritillary, the checkered box. Do you like it, Sir…?" the man seemed to be familiar with children, perhaps he had grandchildren at home; Heero didn't mind the man's tone speaking as if he was talking with a child, he only blinked as an answer. The man stared for a few seconds seemingly deciphering his reaction since he didn't nod nor shake his head.

"You have never seen one…?" the man guessed; the picture was in black and white and perhaps the boy couldn't imagine the real thing with that color. At that Heero nodded once, the old man smiled as if he'd achieved something. "Would you like to have some in the garden?" his hesitation melt away from his tone, Heero stared the man with something in his eyes; the man seemed to interpret it as 'can you do that?' for he chuckled at the boy.

"I think I can arrange something to have those flowers blooming here this spring…!" the man smiled earnestly at the boy's shy happily-surprised face. Heero bowed deeply at him and left with light steps after that, back into the house. The gardener was still staring at him until he disappeared behind the doors; he shrugged to himself and tended his plants again. Duo frowned deeply at what he saw from the window of Heero's room on the roof, gritted his teeth he stomped outside and almost collided with the Head-maid outside Heero's door.

"Master Duo…!" the white haired half aged orthodox woman addressed him.

"…ah, 'morning, Ms. Beth…!" Duo found his grin instantly; he'd visited the mansion when he's still a small child and the Head-maid was like his favorite nanny back then.

"Is everything alright?" she asked with a frown, perhaps she'd seen the black expression on his face before.

"Yes, I was just going to take a walk on the garden. Is something wrong…?" Duo turned the question back before she prodded deeper; she always had a hawk's eyes for all he knew.

"Since you're moving here permanently, I was going to see to your needs…!" she left it hanging there.

"I have no complaints, really!" Duo waved her off since he knew she was interrogating him; Ms. Beth was a favorable nanny when she wasn't in her army-mode. "And please just call me Duo…!" he tried to distract her suspicion.

"……I'll settle with calling you 'Sir Duo'…!" she lifted her glasses on her nose.

"Ack..! That's sounding like an old man, Ms. Beth!!"

"…since everyone would address your brother with that!"

Duo's face turned evenly at that, he knew they treated them differently one way or another; Heero was not blood related, anyway; no matter how much he pressed how important that boy to him. "Alright…! Don't let him hear the others call me 'master', then!"

She nodded and went to brief the other workers in the estate. Duo sighed deeply, half relieved and half stressed; at least he thought people in this mansion wouldn't treat his brother like a jinx, he eased his upset mind with that. Now, he thought, to the garden…! And he walked briskly down the stairs and went outside the building.

"Good morning…, Mr. Greadner…?" Duo tried, he'd known the old man from a long time ago in his visits.

"Oh, good morning, Master Duo…!" then they both paused, "…Sir Duo..?" the man blinked and corrected himself; Duo smiled.

"I'm sorry; did my brother give you any trouble..?"

"Whaat..?" the man half gaped at the unexpected question, "No; not at all, he's a sweet boy…!"

Duo's fingers twitched involuntarily at that, and the fact that the man seemed to be too fond of his brother. "May I know what he asked of you?" he didn't lose his smile.

"Well, Sir Heero seemed to be interested with the checkered box…"

"Oh…fritillary?" Duo's eyes dimmed.

"Is…something wrong, Sir?"

Duo scratched his head distractedly, "Mother used to love them, too; she even tended the flowers herself in our garden around the house. She loved all types of lily..!"

The man's face changed a little, "Should I not…--"

"No, that's not what I mean..!" Duo smiled again, "It's just that…umm, Heero might have heard about the flowers in the garden from her, and knowing Mother, she must have been too eager to show them to him…But Heero arrived in the middle of the winter, you see…"

"….annd…_that_ happened in the first night we had him in our home; so we hadn't really had the chance to celebrate his joining our family. And we didn't really know his birthday date, although we intended that we'd use the date he came to our house as his fixed-birthday…but since Heero seemed to be traumatized with what happened on that day I haven't given him any birthday gift, as well…!"

The old man stared and he didn't know where exactly his story leading to. "…and……you would want me to…--?"

Duo laughed nervously, "So…could you…… Can I help with the flowers? It would like…his late celebration gift or something…" he trailed off. "I think I'm the one giving you trouble, instead…?"

The man chuckled, "Not at all, Little Sir…!" he used to call him Little Master back then, "I assume that you would like to do it sooner than possible..?" he had his grandfatherly knowing smile.

Duo fidgeted a little, "Yes…!" his face flushed a little as he felt self-conscious with the old man's knowing eyes.

"Well then, excuse me for a moment. I will make some call to the farm in the neighbor town, to see if they have some lilies we could have today…!" he stood and folded his stool.

"I'm sorry to give you the trouble!" Duo said fast.

"Not at all, a garden appreciated with so much affection would be an honor to the gardener, wouldn't so?" the old man approached him and bent his body to whisper in his ear. "And Little Master, …I don't see your brother with bad thoughts; I doubt anyone in the estate, as well. You don't have to be that protective with everything he said and done; that's not a brotherly-love that way…!" he patted Duo's back and walked into the house.

Duo stood still in the garden alone, a chill ran up his back; what did the man mean with 'not a brotherly-love'?! Did he mean that he's not a good big brother or did he mean something else…?! Duo turned sharply to the house, his alarms already went off in his head; an annoyed scowl etched darkly on his face again. Why did everyone have to meddle with them wherever they go…?!! His hands unconsciously gripped the sides of his pants and twisted the cloth repeatedly with jerky force.

------------

He thought Duo would pester him non stop once he's finished with his unpacking, but he couldn't even hear his voice in the building; not that he wanted Duo to treat him like a little child…but still, he could have said something to him if he had other plans for the day that didn't concern him, right? Heero sighed to his book; the library was full of interesting books he had never seen before, some even the centuries-old ones that a book collector would die for, but the absence of Duo seemed to have taken his interest from the books.

That he saw some afterimage on the book pages resembling Duo's face or misread the words he's reading into Duo's name over and over proved that he's missing him greatly; and just how many hours passed without his presence it was…? Heero let his head drop onto the open book in front of him, hiding his face with his crossing hands; perhaps he was still a child no matter what he said to deny it…! Like a chick following the first living thing it had seen right after it hatched thinking that the other creature was its mother-hen…; and Duo was a mother-hen, alright…! An extremely possessive over-protective one, even……

"Excuse me, Sir Heero…?" a girl's voice at his side froze him instantly; he didn't realize a human approached him until she started speaking was something alerting, right? What happened with his inhuman senses…?! "Do you want to have lunch now? It's already 12 o'clock…"

Heero straightened his body instantly, turning his head to the large windows at his right and the door opposite them finding his exit, but it was impossible to take the door without passing the maid-girl, and she was close enough that he would have to bump her out of his way. The panic spur drained at once as he realized that Duo wasn't there to speak for him, he stilled and stared down at the book on the table.

"Oh…!" the girl seemed to realize the reason to his sudden action, "Mast…- Sir Duo is gone to the neighbor town for something, he said you shouldn't wait him for lunch since he had something to do that he couldn't delay…!"

So Duo went to a place as far as outside the city without telling him? Heero thinned his lips; even though he'd said that he would keep him closely companied…?! He felt betrayed for no reason; no, it should be enough reason, right?

"Umm…your lunch, Sir Heero?" the girl sounded innocently sincere but he couldn't help but feel oppressed anyway. He shook his head a couple times still staring at the book, the girl stood there for some more seconds; "…how about some morsel, then? The Lady would be concerned if you're not eating well…" she tried.

Heero frowned, his eyes even saw the writings highlighted illusorily resembled Duo's name; something like 'overDu of' or 'Due on' or 'Du olways'. He swallowed his panic, closing the book and realizing that the girl would wait there until he gave a satisfactory answer, he nodded once.

The girl smiled with relief, "Would you prefer something sweet to salty, or cold to hot ones…?"

Heero sweat-dropped at that question; usually it was Duo who picked whatever food to his liking, and he just ate along with him. "Ah, I know. Why don't I bring every food I could find, and see if you like any; then we'd know which ones you like and not, right?" the girl said brightly and fled the library a little too merrily before Heero could stop her.

What did she mean with 'every food'…?! Heero stared the closed door with a gape.

About 15 minutes later the maid-girl returned with a cart, she excused herself for setting the books aside and arranged the napery. When she took the cover-cloth off the cart he widened his eyes at the variety of food filling the three-leveled cart; Duo would enjoy himself tasting all of them, even took several spoons of several of them at once like he did in a hotel before that Heero wondered how could he manage to tell which flavor of which, and wouldn't some flavors mixed randomly tasted weird...?

It seemed the thought of Duo munching the food and sweets like a happy child made his stiff guarded expression melt to some extent that the girl thought that it was actually because he liked the food she brought in for him; she giggled and voluntarily recommended which most favored of every category. Heero felt a little more self-conscious than on the verge of panic at her merry face after that, and they just flowed along before they knew it.

Since the girl said it something like, "…the most favorable of the pastries would be the '+++++' in spring time, but I'd prefer a 'xxxxxx' added with ginger-caramel or honey rather than lemon…"(1) so enthusiastically that Heero stared her rather at the food she served for him. At some point she at last realized the wide stare Heero gave her and it seemed she felt self-conscious as well; clearing her throat and apologizing for her excitement, she stood more quietly and watched him eating from the side.

The first spoon of the creamy pastry she served him tasted good, he guessed that was the flavor girls and children would like; perhaps she saw him as still a boy that she did it, but didn't she say that she liked it as well…?

"…is it not to your liking?" the girl asked as she realized Heero stared at her only after the first spoon. Heero turned to the empty chair of the large table near the other end of the cart's side and back at her with inquiring eyes. She took some more seconds and only understood what he meant when he stared at the pastry on his plate and on the cart and back at her that he was asking her to join him. There was a nice flush on her face at the realization, she seemed happy but she refrained herself, probably because she was minding her place as a mere maid.

Heero bowed at her before she could refuse, truth was he never had much appetite even when he was eating with Duo; it was the sense of belonging in eating a meal together with somebody else that made him able to swallow the food. Mere food wasn't crucial for him, anyway, since he fed on living-blood.

"…umm, I guess I could taste something…" she mumbled and sat, taking the smallest snack on the top tray of the cart. And she sweat a lot at Heero's open stare still on her; it was such a stare that nobody could refuse but notice and feel, and she could read the question inquired in his deep blue eyes like a written page of a book.

The girl sighed deeply and yielded, "…If you wouldn't mind, I'd like some 'xxxxxx' with some chocolate leather on top…!" she said shyly. Heero nodded a little, and stared her fixedly when she take a spoon of the creamy pastry; she made a long wonderful hum cherishing the taste and he actually smiled at that. "…it's heaven!" she appreciated.

"Lynette, what do you think you're doing..?!"

The maid girl instantly out of the chair and stood aside in a polite generic pose with her hands in front of her apron dress together. "…Madam Head-maid…!" she mumbled apologetically, staring at the floor. Heero put the spoon on the side of his plate, staring openly at what would happen.

The Head-maid stared at Heero staring her, then to the cup of pastry served on Heero's plate and to the pastry the girl had for herself. "We serve the food not to our own preference, right, girl?"

"…yes, Ma'am!" the girl answered with a very small voice.

"Sir Heero has a throat problem right now, then you shouldn't serve him a pastry mixed with alcohol such as rum caramel, right, Lynette?" Heero blinked to that.

"Oh, right! I'm sorry, I should have been more aware…!"

The Head-maid took the pastry from Heero's plate and exchanged it with a piece of sponge cake that she'd poured with fresh honey and a little powder spice with fragrant smell. "Honey is good for throat, pastries usually have a lot of fat in it and it's not good for a sore throat, it could make it inflamed and itchy!" the woman said it like she was actually briefing a soldier in a war, Heero had that impression on her.

The pastry from Heero's plate was put on the table in front of another empty chair, "Would it mind you if I join, too, Sir Heero?"

"Eh?" the girl seemed surprise.

Heero blinked at the suddenly turned aunty-like woman, he bowed at her pleasing her to sit; she chuckled a thank you and signaled the maid girl to sit again. But before he knew it, only in minutes span, he found himself surrounded with a flock of cheerful sweet-toothed maids. He never knew that the mansion had so many maids since he and Duo joined Aunt Leon in the south wing which had more common-housing feel than the main and north wing that were more formally preserved as the family estate that still had the orthodox ways with things.

------------

Duo walked briskly into the mansion from his usual south wing door; it was already almost 2.30 and he was satisfied with the lilies he and the gardener could bring home in the truck and was excited to have them planted in the garden immediately; but he thought that Heero might've been wondering where he'd gone to so he decided to see him first. Besides, he's still concerned with Heero's condition since he knew that his stubborn brother was forcing himself out of the bed that morning.

He met a few cheerful looking maids on his way as he searched the large household since he couldn't find him in his room; thinking that he might still be in the library in the main house, Duo went there and he overheard some other maids talking about his brother to themselves. He only caught some phrases like 'he's cute' or 'Madam's type' or 'the silent-prince type out of a story book' or 'a mysterious dark-knight', but he knew that the girls were talking about Heero.

A full sentence he happened to hear of "I think, since he's not of the main family, then commoners like us would still have a chance if we could seduce him right, don't you think?" made Duo widened his eyes with disbelief.

What's wrong with those girls?! Heero's still 12 and they're talking about seducing him…?! Did he throw some pheromone-party while he's gone?!

"Hey, careful with your mouth; you could be fired at once if Madam hears you, you know…?!"

They giggled, nonetheless; "…but don't you think Madam took a liking too much, as well?"

What…? What are they talking about?! Duo's mind gone static and he called out Heero's name.

The maid girls froze and stood aside with their generic poses; Duo turned the corridor and passed them intentionally. "Ah, did you see my brother?" he asked with a full smile and they stuttered an answer telling him that they last saw him in the library.

"Thank you…!" Duo said still with the same smile, glancing at them from the end of his eyes while he passed them; satisfied enough when he felt them gasped behind his back.

"…th…that's the same Little Master……?!"

"Did you remember that he's that scary…?!"

"I…I didn't know…! Madam herself served him when he used to visit back then, right…?!" they cowered to a corner as they felt goose bumps all over their bodies.

"…hey, do you think he heard our conversation…?" and then darkness downed on them.

------------

Duo found him fell asleep on the library table over an open book; he was marching there with wide strides in his haste but the site of his brother instantly froze him when he was opening the library door roughly, the phrase the maids said came back to his mind, '…out of a story book', and as he saw his peaceful sleeping figure caressed by the breeze and the fluttering lacy curtain from the tall window next to him Duo suddenly minded the rude sounds he made and he left the door ajar, approaching his brother silently.

The open book showed an illustration of a Fritillary under Heero's crossing arms half-hiding his serene face; his hair fluttered in the chill breeze and teased his presented cheek. Duo took the locks and slipped them behind Heero's ear, but the rebellious locks slipped free again and it actually made Duo smiled, he kept the hair out of Heero's face with his palm then, noticing a trace of honey at the end of his lips and without thinking he licked it. Heero stirred and Duo's hand cupped his cheek to lift his face from the table so he could lick his lips better.

"Your lips are sweet, Heero. Did you eat something good for lunch…?" he mumbled to Heero's slack lips. Heero's sleepy eyes opened and the sight of drooping eyelashes shadowing the deep blue gems were more beautiful than any flower in the world for Duo, and he followed his urge and slipped his tongue in and kissed him deeply, savoring the even sweeter taste inside Heero's mouth. Heero moaned lazily into his mouth and Duo released him for a while.

'…Duo…, 'something wrong?' Heero's mute words forced him to stare at his lush lips and Duo answered with kissing him again, deeper and hungrier, but he wasn't rough; pushing Heero's body to the chair's back and he leaned forward propping himself with a knee beside Heero's thigh, while his other hand gripping the chair caging Heero's head.

Heero seemed to mind the treat at first, he placed his hand on Duo's chest as if going to push him away, but the beats of Duo's heart allured him and he yielded. Duo moaned as Heero kissed back lazily, his mouth watered and the trail of saliva wetting their chins made him even hungrier. Heero frowned and moaned his complain as Duo deepened the kiss more; by then he saw the door was being closed by someone from the outside from the end of his eye. He widened his eyes realizing someone knew what they were doing and tried to push Duo's body away.

Duo grabbed his waist and lifted his small body from the chair; the hand behind his head slipped lower to his nape and made Heero's head tilted behind as if offering his lips more. "Let them know…!" he whispered huskily and savored his sweets again. Heero sighed and his awkward position made him cling to Duo's back.

After Duo felt that Heero was actually almost fell asleep since the kiss was too comfortable for him, Duo broke the kiss and found that Heero smiled a little and really doze off since he was closing his eyes the whole time. Duo stilled as he stared his brother's face and was _disturbed-ly_ amazed that his kiss could actually make someone literally fell asleep. "Wow…I'm the opposite of Prince Charming waking the Princess with a kiss…!" he mumbled to himself. He sighed deeply and embraced his brother's flaccid body flat to his chest, brushing the forehead with his chin he knew the reason; '…_no wonder, you're still this cold. Why did you have to sit beside an open that-wide a window, anyway…?!_' he stared at the wide window and its fluttering lacy curtain; a flash of a smaller window with falling snow in the dark night came to his mind, and he knew why Heero liked this warmly affected fairy-tale looking window.

"Well…'guess you're my sleeping-beauty waiting for me under a window…!" he muttered with a smile and brought him in both arms to his room upstairs.

Like a nymph sleeping in the bulb of the lily in winter, waiting for that lonely window to let him peek what little scenery of spring outside, so that he could wake up from his sleep from inside the dice-box…and gamble with Life.

Duo tucked him in his bed, closed the curtain of the window he'd asked Ms. Beth to fix sometime before, mindful of the cross-shaped shadow of the window frame casted on the bed and his brother. He petted his brown head for sometime, smiling himself at the scene of the peaceful sleeping face still so pale-white like in the memory resurfaced about the winter years ago. And he could still feel the hatred to the Host-couple for what they'd done to him as well, if ever it only grew stronger every passing time since he didn't do anything to make them pay for their misdeed when he had the chance back then. "…I'd kill them myself…" he muttered, whispering to himself as if reminding what he was obliged and had yet to fulfill.

Kissing Heero's forehead, Duo stood up and walked out of the small room, closing the door silently.

------------

_The world is overflowing with the voices of souls…, can you hear them singing around you?_

"…_Heero, what are you doing? The mist is coming down, if you're not going into the house now you'll get lost in the woods…!" Duo called out for him from the terrace, the light from the windows was getting dim in the shallow mist; it would get thicker to even see his own feet in no time, so he thought he better get inside right away._

"_Heerooo….!" Duo sounded playfully irritated, "…still not coming yeeet?" as his voice had turned to a flat admonishment, he'd better finished his business, the mist had turned to thick fog and he thought he would use Duo's voice as his beacon._

"_Heerooo?!" Duo's voice had an edge in it, and he knew he had to answer him._

"_Coming…! Wah…--" in his haste he tried to run and the thick fog blocking his sight had made him unable to see the dry branches piled on the side of the path; his left foot caught on the entangled branches and a pointed broken tip of a big enough branch had cut his skin deep enough to bleed profusely. He managed to brace his body before falling over on the waist high stone wall of the yard; the gate was about a few meters from his spot, he thought he could drag himself along the wall and if Duo was still calling out to him from the terrace then he could cross the wide yard without bumping into some trees or falling over the hedges and got more wounds than that._

_But Duo had stopped calling out to him, perhaps he was mad and already gotten inside the house…? He knew his left foot was trapped, but the thought of Duo leaving him made him impatient and instead of using his hands to free his foot blindly he decided to pull it forcefully. Gritted his teeth, he tried to pull it again when the first pull only made some more branches fell from the top of the pile and he could swear they were like some hands and fingers of the dead trying to hold onto him and pull him back into the darkness. He could feel the feeling of being solitary was enclosing from all around him as the thick fog obstructed the light._

…_any time, now…those swirling hands will catch his wrists again…and hang him upside down on the cross again…_

_He could start to feel the gravity pulling his head down…_

_A hand grabbed his head behind onto a wall. He gasped and stiffened in fear._

"_Don't…!! What are you doing?" he remembered that voice… "Don't pull your foot like that; it'll worsen the wound..!" The wall behind his body lowered and supported his legs, and then a pair of gentle hands broke the branches and tried to free his foot as less painful as possible. The thin wall was raised up behind his body again, and his body caught in the tight bonds and he tried to escape by pushing both his hands at the enclosing arms._

"_Heero--! It's me; stop flailing…!" Duo yelped as he kicked with his wounded foot, too; and the blood splattered to Duo's feet and sipped through the thin pants._

"_It's me…!!" Duo stared him soulfully with wide conveying eyes, he thought he must have looked quite shaken and he couldn't blame Duo for looking at him with much pity._

"…_I'm sorry…" he mumbled._

"_I couldn't pull all of the broken branches in your wound here; we'll go to the house and get your foot as good as new in no time, alright…?" Duo swept him from the ground and he always felt so useless at times like this._

"_I'm sorry…" he hid his face on Duo's shoulder._

"_What are you staring at outside?" Duo asked evenly while bandaging his foot._

"…_mm…can't you hear the singing in the air?"_

"_In the air? In this thick fog even the wind is not blowing, Heero…!" Duo got up from where he was kneeling on the floor. "What were you doing out there on the side road? What if there's a mobile or truck coming and the driver couldn't see you because of the fog and hit you right smack?" Duo sounded mad but his hand was playing with the locks on the top of his head gently._

"_I thought so, too…" he mumbled._

"_What…?!"_

_Duo sounded irritated enough, so he just shook his head instead of trying to voice his excuse._

_In the morning he woke up with excitement, slipping silently from the bed he used together with Duo; he was grateful that Duo didn't embrace him like a bolster when he woke up like the most of time. Forgetting the pain in his left foot, he sneaked in the still sleeping house and outside to the thick chill fog still obstructing the further view. A smile bloomed on his face; he limped on the soil track to the side road to greet a soul he'd helped yesterday._

_The fog was not as dense as it was in the evening, so he could still see his way. By the side of an oak tree he stopped and stood still, as still as a gravestone._

…_why……?_

_The shredded wildflower didn't answer; he knew why…_

"_Come inside, Heero…" an even voice said behind him; "Even though the fog is not thick enough to block the sight, some tired driver might lose his way and went adrift from the road and still hit you, anyway…!" _

…_--even though he'd removed it from the road, and planted it somewhere out of the vehicle's way? What driver had such vehicle that left shoe-shaped marks and could jump the knee-high curbstone with its wheels…?_

_Duo embraced him from behind, "Let's come back to bed, it's still too early to wake up, right, Heero…? I'll keep you company while you wait for your wound to heal in the house, okay?" his voice was as gentle as ever, and he knew why Duo followed him there._

_He wanted to run…but he knew he would never do it. He just hoped that Duo could hear the wildflower singing its Life yesterday with him; that way Duo would have loved it too…right…?_

------------

Heero gasped in his bed, something wasn't right, he could feel it thick in the air; like the darkness lurking in his own shadow trying to claim him back. Must be the memory had brought back the anxiety, he sat up on his bed and brushed his face with his open palms; he felt wrecked inside out and the tight feeling in the air didn't help any. Closing his eyes he tried to get in touch with the Time since he didn't like any clock placed inside his room; it was already passed 10PM and the mansion was not as busy; he could hear Duo's voice somewhere in the living room having conversation with a woman. It wasn't Aunt Leon since he couldn't trace her presence in the mansion, she must be haven't gotten home yet.

A flicker of bright yellow light flashed in the back of his mind and he snapped his eyes open, not knowing what it was really he'd seen. The anxious voices of souls reached his ears from the garden down, and he realized as the cross-shaped shadow casted on the curtain of his window danced in the yellow-orange light. He widened his eyes and he could hear the painful screaming of many voices calling for help.

He jumped out of bed and hastily ran down the stairs; his feet were still weak and made him hit his body onto the wall of the landing hard enough to knock the air off his lungs. He gasped for sometime and the loud noises made the people from the other room came out. He gritted his teeth and ran out to the garden, dodging all the offered helping hands and ignored the yelping maids he'd shoved away from his way.

"Heero..? What's wrong?!" Duo ran behind him.

"Madam, come see this..!!" a young gardener yelled in haste and Heero used the opened door to get out of the room right under the man's arm; the man yelped as Duo butted him away calling Heero's name.

The bright light made the shadows of the window frames dancing like it was on a stage of a doll-show; Duo widened his eyes. "Nooo..!! Heero--…!" he caught his brother's arm and pulled him behind. The maids were making a commotion behind them, and in front of them outside the house some men were trying to put the fire manually. They kept repeating calling 'madam' in their reports like lost children, and the Head-maid started shouting commands.

"Keep the fire from the winery; don't let it spread to the house..!" Ms. Beth was always the general in their army. "Cut down those trees, the burning branches will reach the second floor's balconies..! Can't you do anything with the hose?!" she pointed here and there, and turned to the gaping maid girls staring wide in shock. "Close all windows and doors and open leeway; we don't want the air in the house smelled like smoke, right, girls?"

"Ye..yes, Madam..!!" and the maids broke free to do their tasks.

In only some minutes span the panicked lost soldiers had flocked around their general on the patio, they had done what they could to not let the fire reach the house and spread wider to the vineyard. And as the things still burning was the scaffolding for the vine- roof of the pathway, some copses of old trees and hedges around the garden and some trivial things, the Head-maid had let them gathered around her and watched as she thought that the fire would go down by itself eventually. A restrained voice heard between the crackling of burning woods after their own commotion died down, they turned their heads at the source behind a pillar.

"—stop..! Heero, you can't do anything, stop struggling…!!" Duo was in a will battle with his younger brother; keeping him down by embracing his arms flat to his smaller body and walled him to the pillar. But Heero was panicking, if he could scream he must have been hysterical at the time; kicking and ramming his own head to the pillar forcing Duo to let him go. "No, stop it, Heero!!" Duo turned their bodies and used the pillar to support his back from Heero's jolting feet.

"Master Duo…?" a maid murmured and Duo heard her calling him 'master' and momentarily stiffened; Heero used the slip to break away from him. He ran to the open garden and Duo jumped on him and kept him on the muddy grassed ground.

"Enough! Mother and Father are not in there…!!" he yelled with a pained voice. He ignored the gasps from the people behind them; Heero instantly stilled at his words. "They're not in there, anymore; don't just jump into every fire--…!!" his yell stopped by a hitched choke and Duo didn't continue his words and only panted with half moaned sounds.

After some long seconds he kneeled up and brushed his brother's hair aside, searching his face from the side. "…alright? No one's in there…!" Duo begged him. Heero half turned his face at him; a disbelieving stare in his wide eyes.

…_what…? What is Duo talking about? Can't he hear them screaming..?_ 'They're screaming for help…!' he mouthed slowly. 'They're screaming; how could you let them die…?!' he mouthed in a mute scream, and started to struggle to get up again; but Duo's hands already caught him in tight embrace and bent their bodies together not letting him to have enough ground to stand.

Their struggle only lasted for about some tens seconds, and Heero gave up as he realized Duo wouldn't let him go; he could heard people gathered near them and murmured to each other at a lost to what they should do in such situation. Duo straightened their bodies up to breathe easier, still keeping Heero's body flat to his own; they panted in the same rhythm and Heero still tried to squirm but giving up not long after. He snapped his head staring at the old gardener with a pleading expression on his face, but the man didn't seem to catch what he begged of him.

"What is happening..?!" Aunt Leon came out hurriedly from the house and Duo momentarily slackened his embrace by the relief. Heero beat the people and actually bumped his body to her, gripping her dress jacket and begged her mutely before anyone caught her attention with their reports. Aunt Leon half gaped at the desperate voiceless boy; "…what.., calm down, Heero. Who's screaming?! Anyone trapped..?!" she turned to her people.

'They're screaming in the fire..!!' Heero shook his head violently and it was even harder for Aunt Leon to read his lips, so she cupped his cheeks with her hands. '…they are on fire!' Heero mouthed desperately.

"…Please don't say that, Heero…!" Duo said calmly behind him, leaning tiredly to the pillar. "I'd better think that Mother and Father died of the smoke inhalation than screaming agonizingly in the fire…!" he begged silently.

"Duo…" Aunt Leon murmured sadly; and Heero knew that Duo had won it, that battle. If he's the one could sing, then Duo was gifted to be the star of a drama; and no one would belief his version of the reality, anyway. Even if they did, no one would take it seriously; because they couldn't hear the plant soul's cries, right? Even Duo couldn't hear them, right? …just like the wildflower's singing of gratitude that day, what mattered to Duo was his possession over him…to even get jealous to a single wildflower and trampled it…

Heero let his limp hands dropped to his sides; in the dying fire he could hear the last thoughts of the trees and other plants, saying their gratitude for his concern for them; for what remnants of affection they were given before they die. And the chill night wind carried their last voices from all direction, whispering 'thank you…', 'thank you', '…thank you' it almost sounded like a punishment. He didn't feel it but a lone tear trailed down his cheek as he looked down ignoring all the humans around him; it's Duo's stage, anyway…he just had to do what Duo directed him to do.

"It's alright, Heero, no one's hurt…!" as if answering his submission Duo embraced him from behind again; kneeling and murmuring gentle comforting words to his ear, and Heero knew Duo was threatening to hurt even his own beloved Aunt Leon if he kept clinging to her…if he just added the word 'yet' in his sentence to make it clear enough for everyone's mind to understand.

"…we could have other plants in the garden again, okay? They're not wildflowers so we could plant more of them soon, okay, Heero…?" And Duo could sound like the gentlest angel while saying he would eliminate such commoner maids and workers just because he tried to mingle with them while Duo was gone…? And why would Duo take the people of this mansion his hostage; weren't they the close people he'd liked and loved from his childhood? They're not some distant unknown relatives who had treated him badly…!

Heero nodded once, knowing that he just had to nod to whatever Duo said; it was his stage, anyway…

"Good…we'll get inside and get you rested in someplace where it doesn't smell like smoke, alright?" Heero nodded again. Duo let go his embrace, "…now…your dislocated shoulder is painful, right? I don't want you to get panic again and hurt yourself bumping to everything like that…!"

"What…? Doctor--…" Duo hand signaled Aunt Leon before she get panicked herself. Heero didn't nod; he used his good hand to fix the joint by himself, not even showing the pain on his face; keeping his eyes at some imaginary spots dancing in the light of the dying fire on the floor. Duo checked his shoulder gently and he smiled as it was to his satisfaction.

"You're alright…!" he messed his brother's brown hair with relief; "Now I'll get you to rest, okay?" Heero nodded, Duo smiled a sigh; "…that's my Heero!" he murmured as he stood up and kept Heero's body flat to his under an encircling arm; Heero adjusted by gripping Duo's shirt, trying to hide his face from the people silently giving way for them to pass.

…he wanted to hide and not be found……

May be not from the world…but from Duo…

------------

Duo brought him to a sitting room on the second floor where the windows faced the vineyard down, it was arranged like a small library and there was a sofa-swing facing the windows with a half-elliptical table at each side of the decorated swing poles erected from the floor. Duo lounged on a big cushion he'd placed on the decorated edge of the sofa and kept Heero sitting on his bent legs between Duo's sprawled legs leaning to his body, his head on Duo's left shoulder; he was still gripping Duo's shirt in front of his face like a small lost child. A blanket covered their bodies, and Duo's right hand stroked the back of his head while rubbing his chin to Heero's forehead slowly like a cat.

A knock sounded at the door, Aunt Leon asked permission to come in and Duo pleased her. She had a tray of hot chocolates and some morsel and put it on the table next to Duo's reach; offering a mug to Duo who accepted it with a smile. "…how are you two doing?" Aunt Leon sounded apologetic, perhaps she felt like it was her fault that they had an episode of their living hell again.

"…okay!" Duo sipped the chocolate and smiled. Then there was a heavy pause between them and Duo decided to lighten Aunt Leon's mood. "What happened?"

There was quite a busyness after they retreated to the solitary small sitting room and Duo thought there must be outsiders coming in. "Some people from the fire department and the police; they thought that it was a sabotage and they wanted to collect some evident before someone disposed them in the clean up…!" she sounded hesitated.

"Sabotage? Why would someone do that?" Duo frowned.

She shrugged; "We're quite famous in this city, being one of the oldest and the city founders…some party who had obligations with this city sometimes targeted us instead of the city councils. We received unwanted packages or mails, sometimes…"

"Or it might just a common criminal attempt, making a diversion and steal some things in the confusion while the people were trying to deal with the fire…?" may be she didn't want to scare them.

Duo's face changed a little, "Criminals could get in here and sabotage things? In this house…?!"

"Duo…!" Aunt Leon made a calming hands gesture. "We're not that defenseless, and it might just somebody's prank, okay? Don't take it for the worse, yet!" she blew her sigh. "…it might just be someone wanted to fire up the newspaper or make a sensation before the City Festival…!"

"That happened a lot? Someone breaking in to the high-class' estate and burn things before the Festival..?" he made it sounded sarcastically common.

"Duo…!" Aunt Leon already had many things in her head.

"…sorry! It's not your fault, Aunt Leon; don't mind us too much…!"

"Well…" she massaged the crease between her brows, "Anyway, there would be someone from the police coming here and ask some questions. Just the procedural action, nothing much; it's not like I suspect anyone working in this mansion, too…!" she scratched her head hiding her nervousness, but that showed it more clearly, instead.

"I understand, Aunt Leon. But Heero might still not up to answer by himself…"

"Naah…" she waved Duo, "The detective is a friend of mine, so I asked him to debrief you tomorrow when you already calm down enough; besides, I already inform him about your situation…!"

"You just try to have decent sleep tonight, okay?" Aunt Leon bent and said gently, kissing Duo's forehead. Heero hid his face from her when she turned to him; she noticed that he had a desperate expression on his face and a dark bruise on his forehead, and she felt guilty for not being there when that happened.

'That's okay; Heero is just shy that he had a breakdown in front of you…!' Duo mouthed. She nodded but seemed unsatisfied of herself; she tried a stroke on the brown head and Heero jumped at the slightest touch, her eyes dimmed at that. "Good night, Heero…!" she whispered, and nodded to Duo to excuse herself, saying with her eyes that she would keep anybody else from that room. Duo said his gratitude in his eyes as he nodded back.

"…want some hot chocolate, Heero?" Duo asked levelly when Aunt Leon already closed the door.

Heero gritted his teeth, and shook his head a little; Duo could feel his chin trembled against his shoulder. He smiled at that; "If only you could squeak out a little just now…I wonder what kind of expression she'd have on her face when she knew what I'm doing under the blanket, in front of her!"

Duo chuckled, "Would she be amazed that I'm giving you an anal probe to divert your mind from 'the trauma' of the fire…!" he licked Heero's ear under his chin. Heero blew his held breath in an almost sob as Duo's right hand slipped under the blanket and tended to his crotch, determined to make Heero feel it more than he wanted to. "You struggled with more vigor in the garden, Heero; or do you actually like it when I'm doing these things to you?" Duo licked his ear again as Heero squirmed on his body.

"…for someone who didn't even flinch when fixing his own dislocated shoulder, making such a desperate face and panting like you're actually in pain…you just like testing my edge, hu, Heero?!" Duo smiled as he used the fingers of both hands spreading his brother's opening, enjoying Heero's gasps and jerks and the view of a couple of tears sliding his pale-white cheeks as he pulled his head back with an open mouth. Duo licked the trail of saliva from Heero's chin up to his open mouth and closed it with his own, enjoying his mute sobs and cries of pain into his demanding mouth.

"Well this is entirely your fault…!" Duo wiped the tear from Heero's left cheek with his right hand then maneuvered him to turn around and sit with his feet bent and placed at the sides of his thighs so that he could penetrate him without his feet blocking the way; licking at Heero's nape while waiting Heero's shudders of pain subsided, and his hands played with his crotch and nipples. Heero didn't move in the cage of Duo's legs by his sides, closing his eyes and submitted himself to what ever Duo wanted to do with him, because Duo was right; it was entirely his fault.

"…hey, I wonder what Aunt Leon's face like…" Duo said between his nipping at Heero's neck, "…if she were to witness an 8-year old boy being done by a 5-year old, back then…!" Heero jerked and Duo moaned in pain, leaning his head on Heero's shoulder and trembled for a while.

"Don't do that…" he panted with an almost pleading tone, "…if I get any harder than this, I'll lose it, Masterrr…!" purring the silken word of 'master' as he knew it hurt his brother when he called him that, Heero sobbed a few times and Duo kissed his side of face gently over and over. "…it's painful for me, too, Master…" –that obedient-lust he had every night over his Master so that he would give himself for his Master to feed on; and he could have his release only when his Master feed on his blood or coming with him.

Duo panted long with trembling breaths, "……it's more painful for me…Master…!" To be in desperate need for such closeness for someone he couldn't help but lust over every night while he might actually abhor him in his true heart, Heero thought it sure was living a hell for Duo; but he couldn't undo the bond, and even if it meant breaking Duo more and more, his true feeling was to never let Duo go. That's why he took Duo's abuse as a way of being repentance, even though he knew he didn't deserve such thing since he never felt sorry for claiming Duo as only his for the first time so many years ago. He was just sorry that Duo felt miserable because of him…

…if only Duo could love him not because of the obedience he'd put in his veins with his fangs; would Duo see him as a single struggling wildflower trying to survive the cruel world and replant it somewhere out of harm's reach, or trample him like he did with the wildflower he'd save in the past…? Duo couldn't answer such question now, he already had the obedience poisoning his very mind, even though he only could try fighting it by hurting Heero; and that's entirely his fault…Heero knew that, even before he met Duo for the first time in that fire.

…he'd said, 'release me'…and by releasing him, he knew he'd cursed Duo forever with him.

------------

------------

(1) Just put whatever name of pastry or cake you'd like; saru liked whipped cream personally, and ginger; saru even put ginger in fried-rice (they usually don't put it in such cooking here); and the smell of honey actually made saru retch. The doctor told saru to get at least 10kg more of body weight, but if it's mostly from cream, then it wouldn't be muscle but _fat_, right…?? Imagine that, 10kg more of fat…! -sweats-

…..like twisting Duo more… hehee


	4. fourth day

**Shallow Mist march 27, 09**

_**Disclaimer**__: G-boys not saru's (not available to buy anywhere; even though saru might have no money to even try make a bargain over Heero…)_

_**Warning**__: critical AU, supernatural beings, violence, mature contents : male x male bonding, language, abusive Duo, NCS_

**4. fourth day **_-weather forecast: cold day with cozy drizzles in the evening_

……'_if you won't regret it, then…you may kill me…!'_

Heero stirred with the words echoing in his head, he'd heard it said somewhere but his mind couldn't remember when and where; but the voice was softer than a morning breeze…like…the last breath of a dying night. He thought, even if he used such metaphor to name things others wouldn't understand him, so he never really spoke with anyone like that; even to Duo…Duo didn't even feel anything wrong when he trampled the wildflower. And like last night, he's not accusing that Duo was the culprit; but Duo did take advantage of things, the fire, the burnt plants, him losing his voice, people's concern of their past. Duo even used his parents' deaths as a cover to his threats, but he wasn't such a malevolent boy before Heero met him; so it was definitely his fault that Duo got more and more twisted with every passing day. He never intended to be the master, and he sure knew Duo didn't want to be his fodder one way or another, Duo just couldn't fight the obedience in his blood. And himself, Duo couldn't deny his existence and his curse; even if Duo wanted to run away from him, suicide wasn't an option available anymore; his life wasn't his anymore…

With both arms embracing his smaller body, Duo fell asleep last night still filling him; and Duo was right about that as well, it's not like he minded the pain every time they were doing it, he wasn't sure if it was pain he was feeling, anyway.

Opening one eye a slit, Heero saw a thicker blanket draped around them on top of the blanket they had last night; so some time when they were sleeping someone came and covered them with that blanket. Heero frowned, Aunt Leon said she'd tell others to not come in for a while; or was it Aunt Leon who did it?

As if answering his thought, a couple of soft knocks sounded by the door, Heero stiffened and closed his eye again faking sleep; Aunt Leon came in with apparently their breakfast on another tray. She exchanged the tray she put last night on the table behind Duo and patted his shoulder a couple times gently before going to the door again, thinking that he was asleep. She stopped on her track when Duo mumbled a thank you.

"Oh, I thought you're still asleep…!"

Duo opened his eyes and smiled, "I thought you're going to the Church for Morning Mass?"

"Yes, you're not coming…?"

"Mm…not today…"

She chuckled, "That's okay, I understand…!" brushing Duo's bangs behind with her fingers. "About the detective I told you last night?"

"Yes?"

"He'll be coming here today, I don't know whether he'll skip going to Church, too; but I just wanted to tell you beforehand since everybody is going to come to the Mass…!"

Duo's brows lifted, "You mean the house is going to be empty except for us?!"

"Not really, there are already some police officers guarding outside; and some of them on the ground floor and garden, I just told them to give you some privacy for a while; alright?" Aunt Leon tapped Duo's nose with a finger. 'How's he doing…?' she mouthed flicking her eyes at Heero in Duo's arms.

'The usual…' Duo mouthed back; Aunt Leon didn't seem satisfied, but she shrugged and ruffled Duo's head before she left.

"Want something to eat?" Duo muttered; Heero opened his eyes and shook a little. Duo snickered while breathing in the smell of his hair, "…not even me?!" there was still an edge in his tone, and Heero squirmed in his hold. Duo started licking his ear, "C'mon, just a little bite and grant me release…?"

Duo sighed after Heero shook his head even harder, he couldn't see his brother's face since he was holding him to lean his back to his front, but he thought he didn't really care what kind of face Heero was making now. Throwing the blankets from their bodies Duo sat kneeling on his feet; the thick blanket fell to the floor while the thinner one from last night somewhat spread on the rest of the sofa. "Then I guess I have to make you either come with me or bite me…!" Duo's voice sounded coldly bored. Heero gasped as Duo threw his body on his back to the other side of the sofa swing on the blanket, with Duo's right hand gripping his left ankle up higher than his shoulder and his left hand squeezing his neck hard.

The sofa swing swayed by the force, and even without that Heero's head already felt spinning. Duo had a cold mask of a dead face while he thrust into Heero roughly; Heero couldn't even gasp and only gritted his teeth, knowing Duo's eyes burnt to the line of teeth in his mouth waiting for his fangs to come out. "Draw out your fangs, Heero…!"

Heero opened his eyes a slit and saw Duo's eyes were shaded with dark shadow that the color was almost black; no, he didn't want to soil Duo more…! He closed his eyes again as Duo planted his fingers deeper digging into his neck, as if he could squeeze his fangs out if he crushed it harder.

'…Duo…' Heero mouthed, his face skin already felt hot by the pressure of Duo's hand that he couldn't feel it when his tears trailed down from the ends of his eyes. Duo tsk-ed and his left hand let go Heero's ankle and he used it to pry his mouth open; "I'm going crazy, Heero…! So, since you don't seem like you're enjoying the sex, enjoy a little bite instead!"

Duo had three fingers jammed in Heero's mouth, gripping the lower jaw forcing it down and Heero could taste his own blood from his tongue cut by Duo's nails. He croaked a faint 'ack' and Duo heard it; chuckling, Duo said with a relief mocking his roughness; "…so, your voice is back, Heero? May be I should've done this to pull your voice back since yesterday?"

Heero lifted his hand and wound it around Duo's neck, then his body shook with small seizures and his fangs drew out slowly, only half the length of his usual feeding-teeth but Duo groaned and his whole body boiled up inside answering the call. Duo released Heero's neck and mouth, wound his arm around Heero's shoulder to his back, and one behind his head to support him biting the base of his own neck; and Duo came violently even though he only felt Heero's fangs broke his skin and he didn't suck in his blood. His vision swirled and he dropped his body on top of Heero's as he felt like drowning in a deep blackness and something inside him cackling in satisfaction.

Heero could hear the Shinigami laughing inside Duo, he didn't want that entity to take over Duo's body again so he didn't suck Duo's blood; he didn't want to erase Duo little by little, Duo was not a twisted being when he's not involved between the two of them. Embracing Duo's shuddering body with both hands, Heero tried to remember why he took Duo to take part of his curse, but his tired mind couldn't work right now. It had something to do with his misdeed in the past and…

"…awwwh…my angel is regretting killing me…!" an amused leer heard from Duo's mouth and Heero immediately let his fangs off Duo's skin and dropped his head on the sofa. He saw the smiling Shinigami as he turned his face a little; the entity used Duo's finger to stroke his head from straying hair and licked the blood trails from his mouth. "If you don't feed, you'll get even weaker than I am and your precious Duo will be swallowed by ME completely, angel…!" the Shinigami kissed his slack mouth to clean the traces of Duo's blood as if enjoying his own share.

"…you haven't told him about me eating him from inside his own body, have you? I bet he'd freak out and rip his veins open just so you would feed on his blood to quell me…!" Heero didn't respond to the mocking tone, his eye color turned shallower and Shinigami knew that he was almost losing his consciousness. Snickered once, he wiped a trailing tear from one end of Heero's eyes; "You look sleepy, I'll let you get away for now…!"

After that Heero's eyes turned dull and lifeless; and Shinigami knew that he was staring at his precious human's soul drowned in the darkness that was him, residing deep inside Duo's unawareness; as if he would keep his eyes open forever to see the flickering dying light of hope. And that masochistic stubbornness was the thing Shinigami liked from him, the entity smiled and closed Heero's eyelids with his hand, savoring the feel of the thick eyelashes wet by tears brushed his palm skin. If he didn't possess Duo's body he wouldn't have the chance to feel that kind of sensation, and he didn't regret their triangle-curse, even if that fallen angel hated him even more…cursing him more…and may be someday he'd kill him again.

That thought made him smile contentedly.

------------

Heero groaned weakly; he didn't know whether he'd fallen asleep or fainted, but even though his body felt wrecked he was relief that Duo's bitterness had passed and he could have his dreary time back. He tried to open his eyes, moaned and closed his eyes again as the light from the window hurt them; a flash of sight of his own shoulder told him that he was stripped naked. Perhaps he'd left some blood on his shirt when he bit Duo, and Duo had discarded it. He waited as his senses gradually came back, he felt like a ragged piece of cloth seeped by muddy water; but he knew he was way beyond dirty inside out so he didn't think of it badly.

He gasped and widened his eyes as he felt his lower parts, reflexively pulled his legs together but two hands around his ankles didn't let him. "…Duo…!" he croaked out poorly as he lifted his head to see his lower body, and Duo raised his head above the line of his crotch.

"You're bleeding…!" Duo stated levelly then he proceeded with his licking.

Heero sobbed once, "…don't…--dirty…!" he tried to move his legs but only managed a weak squirm.

"If you keep squirming, my body might get another idea, Heero…!" Duo said as if bored and Heero stopped instantly. "……it's like a cat licking its wound, no big deal, right? The tear closed faster with my saliva…!"

"Why are you hiding your face?" Duo sat up and found Heero used both arms crossed to hide his face, there was a tear trailing down, and the sight made his anger back. "You're embarrassed even after all these years doing immoral things together, or are you tempting me to do something more, Heero…?!"

Heero moaned and balled his body to the sofa's back, presenting his back to Duo; "…I'm sorry…!" he croaked breathlessly and Duo felt a chill ran up his spine; hearing his broken tone, and seeing his small skinny body pale and wrecked by frightened trembles. Where had they taken the wrong turn, exactly? He never meant to love his Heero this way, '…_that's not a brotherly-love that way'_…! The words echoed unbidden in his mind and he gritted his teeth in denial.

Duo turned his head sharply from the sight; took a couple of deep breaths he gathered the rumpled and soiled blanket and Heero's pants and ripped shirt and balled them together in his hands. "I'm going to discard these; don't let anyone see you like that…!" and with that he left the room, avoiding the police's guards and slipped to the incinerator hut near the log storage. Throwing them inside the incinerator, Duo turned it on and watched as the fire ate the cloths from the small window; he knew the police would see the smoke from the chimney, but he didn't care just as long as he'd gotten rid of the traces of Heero's blood and his own crime, they wouldn't know what was burnt once he's done.

There were the sounds of footsteps coming closer and Heero stiffened, snatched the thick blanket from the floor he hurried to the corner behind the armoire and potted plant at the wall opposite the door, covering his body somewhat and balled down. An officer opened the door just in split second in his patrol, he might have forgotten that Aunt Leon told them to let her nephews alone in that room, or he didn't know which room she was talking about in that large mansion.

The officer surveyed the room from the doorway, and finding it empty, he turned and closed the door; Heero realized the end of the blanket was left on the floor visible from the doorway and he pulled it just before the officer opened it again as he thought he saw something. Frowning and feeling something amiss; sometimes humans had reliable sense, as well; the officer walked into the room and checked around.

Heero gripped the blanket tight as the man passed him several times, he didn't care much about himself, it was the fear of what Duo would do to the man if he ever found him in his condition and meddled between him and Duo. Surely with the man being a cop, what he'd find about their relationship wouldn't be taken lightly. And he wouldn't want to break the kind Aunt Leon's heart if she knew into what kind of a person he'd twisted his dearest nephew now.

The officer stopped just a couple of meters from the armoire; he might have thought he saw the plant's leaf moved, and he walked to check behind the armoire since it was placed covering a corner and made a small space behind it that could be used as a hiding place. Right before he bent and tilted his body in front of the potted plant his radio called him, he answered and distractedly moved the drooping leaves from his sight for a mere second and he turned his head to the door while speaking with his partner. They shared some jokes about a strict unkempt superior who'd look like a prince if only he'd know what to do with a razor in hands; and the officer joked back about what that man could do with the razorblade in his hands with them instead if he knew what they were talking behind his back; and they laughed together, while he was still standing on his spot in front of Heero's hiding place.

"…ack-- he's here..!" the officer on the radio said in surprise.

"I heard that, you sure know what I could do to you if you mess up such an easy job, right..?!" another man yelled seemingly behind the man who was holding his radio on the other side.

"Yessir…!" the officer in the room said and hurried to the door to proceed with his patrolling, but he was still chuckling to himself when he closed the door.

Heero didn't realize that he'd been holding his breath until his throat constricted; he choked and tried to gasp poorly and realized his neck was hurting because of Duo's grip sometime before as well. He hid his face under his arms, wondering where Duo had left that he was there alone, naked and only had a blanket to hide himself from the world. He thought about what Duo said the other night, about his curse; being cursed to be heartless might as well meant that even the person loving him treated him like a heartless thing, and it broke his heart…

A palm placed on his head made him jerk his head up; he found a concerned Duo's face with a serious frown staring at him, he didn't realize he was crying until Duo wiped the flowing tears with his thumb and palm. "…let's go and take a shower?" he said almost whispering; and Heero knew it was his kindhearted Duo and without thinking he grabbed Duo's neck and clung to him, didn't even minding the blanket fell and pooled on the floor showing his nakedness.

"Sorry…did someone come here while I'm gone?" Duo held his waist with one hand while bending and picked the blanket with the other hand. Heero could only answered by clawing at Duo's back trying to press their bodies to be one. "They didn't find you, did they…?" Heero only shook his head to that question.

"Okay…we'll go upstairs now, alright?" Duo held him covered with the blanket, and rearranged Heero's legs so he could walk without them getting in the way, he felt like holding a big baby but he didn't say it. "It's okay; I got you, Heero…!" Duo took him to their bathroom, mumbling words of comfort along the way.

Heero hated it when he couldn't help but act so powerless in times like that.

------------

He'd calmed down after a bath and changed into fresh clothes and actually enjoyed the little swaying of the sofa swing while reading a book, which he only pretended to read just so that Duo would let him use his body as a big cushion behind his back; much like their arrangement last night. Duo munched on the cakes Aunt Leon left on the tray of their breakfast; complaining about the sweets and Aunt Leon treated them like children that she gave them sweets for breakfast just because they had a sad recollection about their past; but he munched on them happily anyway, Heero noted.

A knock on the door broke their comfortable arrangement, and Duo stood to see who it was. A self-assured looking man about in his early 30s smiled with a crooked unlit cigarette in his mouth; even though he seemed like a confident type but he had somewhat shaggy appearance like he hadn't seen a bathroom for days, but the impression didn't strike wrong in Duo's mind. The man introduced himself as Aunt Leon's friend; childhood friend, more correctly; and that she had already pleased him in and checked around all he liked. Duo blinked as the man didn't stated that he was a police detective, but he didn't need that statement, Duo could smell a policeman from across a crowded room since he already had too many happenstances with them.

"You must be Duo…!" the man greeted while stepping inside.

"I am, Mr.--…?"

"Oh, Blackice, Mirlo Blackice. Your Aunt used to call me Blackbird when we're children…!" the man grinned showing his white teeth with no plaque on the surface, may be he just liked to bite something between his teeth and not really a smoker; that would explain the crooked cigarette, perhaps he'd chewed it for more than a week.

"And…what should I call you with, Detective?" Duo gave him a good smile.

"Ah, what you like is alright; just don't call me uncle, I'm not that old…!" the man shrugged and surveyed the room in general, Duo was going to say something; "Oh, but your Aunt calls me Blacky, these days…!" but the man kept cutting with some distracting conversational issue.

"Sounds like a dog's name, eh?" he laughed; Duo chuckled wryly, he was forgetting what he was thinking as an image of a black dog came running with its wriggling tail and a giant cigarette bitten like a stick in its mouth flashed in his mind; but the man looked more like a wolf with his black duster like that, he thought.

"And you must be Heero?" the man stood behind the table separating him and the sofa swing.

"Yes, he's my brother…--"

"Oh, I like reading that book, too. The illustrations are pretty graphic, eh?" he bent and took a peek at the open book on Heero's bent knees; Heero ignored him all the same.

"Um, Uncle Detective, I thought Aunt Leon said that you will debrief us about last night…?"

The man laughed and pointed at Duo, "You did that on purpose, didn't you?!"

"Alright, just call me Blackbird, and I won't bother your peaceful time here…!" he turned to the things in the room again away from Heero's back.

Duo crooked a smile, "…the questioning, Mr. Blackbird?" and walked to Heero's side from the back of the sofa swing.

"Alright. Did you burn the garden, Duo?" Blackbird checked the collection on the book shelf, peeking at Duo's face from the reflection on the glass; he noticed Duo's hand pulled Heero's loose turtleneck up covering his nape.

"No!"

"Did you think of setting it on fire?"

"No"

"Did you know someone who would?"

"I don't know everyone that close, I only know the people in this mansion in my visits when I was a child…!" Duo shrugged.

"Do you know someone who wouldn't?" Blackbird turned around facing them.

"What kind of question is that?" Duo sweat-dropped; the shaggy detective only chuckled at the expression on his face. "Shouldn't you ask like 'did you want to do it' instead?"

"Did you want to?" the man complied.

"No!" Duo scowled, "I helped planting some flowers the whole day yesterday…!"

Blackbird noticed Heero's curled toes on the sofa at that admission. "Did your brother want to?"

"Hell, no…!! Why would he do that?"

Blackbird chuckled again, he used his left hand he pulled from his duster pocket and twirled the crooked cigarette in his fingers. "Well, perhaps it's just something that happens, since they couldn't find anything left of any arson-thingy…!"

"…you don't speak like a cop, Mr. Blackbird…!" Duo sweat-dropped again; Blackbird chuckled and bit his crooked cigarette again, lifting both hands in surrender.

"I read too many story books…!" Blackbird offered.

"Is a garden suddenly burst on fire something that would just happen?" Duo asked back.

"You wouldn't belief what could happen in this town…!" Blackbird took a piece of cookies on the tray and stuffed it in his mouth, Duo stared at the crooked cigarette still bitten in between his lips; while Blackbird noticed Duo's hand wound around Heero's neck half-consciously. He smiled at them and said that he would look around the house again and leave the boys alone.

"Boys are boys, after all…!" he mumbled around his crooked cigarette while standing on the patio to the garden.

"Black…!" Aunt Leon greeted him from behind.

"Oh, and I already told your nephew that you called me Blacky nowadays…!" he crooked an amused smile; Aunt Leon rolled her eyes.

"Found anything?"

Blackbird shrugged and cued her to go outside. Aunt Leon sighed and told him that she would just see how her nephews were doing first.

"Duo…!" Aunt Leon opened the door a little.

"Oh, you're back!" Duo smiled. She lifted her brows flicking her eyes at Heero, and Duo shrugged with wide clear eyes; she smiled and tilted her head cueing out the corridor in general, and Duo waved at her behind Heero's back. One thing ran in the Maxwell family was the ability to converse without actually speaking; Heero took a glance at the closed door when she left, he knew they were going to discuss about them somewhere outside the house but he didn't want to get Duo alerted about it, so he didn't say anything.

------------

"So, what did you find?" Aunt Leon asked sipping her tea cup.

Blackbird bit his lower lip and tsk-ed, his eyes glanced at the people in the café in general before he stared at her. "About the garden, or about your nephews?"

Aunt Leon shrugged one shoulder and poured the milk into her teacup, then salt and black-pepper; the detective cringed a little at the tea stirred in the cup and he stared when she sipped it and smiled satisfactorily. "Want a taste…?" she asked.

Blackbird lifted his hand and chewed his cigarette and said; "You noticed the heart-attack victim was found again the other night?"

"Read it in the newspaper…"

"You think they should increase the patrol number?"

"I don't want to burden the Headmaster more than this…!" Aunt Leon put the cup with a clink sound.

"Your boys are in the line, right?"

"I don't want to involve them in this matter!"

"But that's not your choice!"

"…can we just talk about what you found?" Aunt Leon stared him in the eyes, he sighed.

"The mansion of the Mortise family was burnt, too, last week…!" Blackbird lit the crooked cigarette and held it between his fingers and watched the smoke wafted in the air.

"The Mortise…!" Aunt Leon had a shaded look in her eyes.

"One of the house workers had a patisserie in the old town…-"

"The father, who worked in the patisserie, was the heart-attack victim?" Aunt Leon sipped her tea again.

"Should we arrange more guards in your house?"

"No, my workers mostly live in the mansion, with their family; any excessive activity would alert my nephews more than necessary and I wouldn't be able to make up something to cover it!"

Blackbird watched a little girl playing a stuffed doll on the floor near their corner table; "…you should at least put them in the dorms, they would be safe there…!"

Aunt Leon tsk-ed to herself, stirring the tea again, she was hiding her nervousness and Blackbird knew her that much; "…Duo is not that adaptive, I don't want to put him in the line, either!"

"And his brother, Heero…?" Blackbird twirled the cigarette's lit head between his fingers and knuckle.

"Duo is over-protective over him…!"

"Really? That's interesting…!! Do you notice the hand-mark bruise around his neck? Surely he'd be overly protective if he had a younger brother like him!"

Aunt Leon wasn't too happy with the sarcastic tone, "…and you're saying?"

"You know what I'm talking about; letting it goes on is not that wise, right, dear Aunty?"

Aunt Leon sighed deeply, and sipped her tea for a couple of times; "…it's that obvious, hu? I thought it was endearing at first, when I first saw them in Duo's parents' funeral…!"

"I couldn't just butt in, now; I left them to themselves for years!" she muttered again, staring at the table.

Blackbird snickered, pulling out a new cigarette from his shirt pocket and bit it while still staring at the burnt one between his fingers. "You could at least let them know the reason…?"

"I'd rather not. Not now…!" she poured more pepper to her tea and finished the last sip.

"Why do you always drink it like that…?!" Blackbird cringed again.

Aunt Leon snickered at him, "Habit?" she smiled victoriously.

------------

The Head-maid stood discreetly behind the stuffy chair, waited for any order for her.

"…what do you think I should do, Ms. Beth?"

"I think you should stop stirring your tea, Lady, it's cold now…"

Aunt Leon chuckled in her seat, the fluttering lacy curtain entertained her eyes for awhile; "That's why I didn't want a family, I'm not suited playing parents…!"

"No one expect you to be one, Lady Leonore. I think you're best suited as a friend…?" Ms. Beth said in her thick dialect.

"I'm not very successful in that area as well, as you can count how many friends I have left, right, Ms. Beth?" she chuckled tiredly, sipping at the tea and frowned at the amount of pepper she'd put in.

"Too much of anything could do you harm, my Child…!" Ms. Beth moved closer and stroked her head, Aunt Leon leaned her head to her motherly hand.

"I wish someone would say that about me, too, Ms. Beth…"

"I tell you what; go out tonight, have some fun with the boys…" Ms. Beth massaged her stiff neck and she moaned in pleasure, "You work too much these days, I'm beginning to wonder if it was just an excuse to avoid them!" Aunt Leon groaned at that, but she chuckled afterwards. "No one could have too much of your company, Child…!"

"Really…?" she chuckled again, "The Old Men seemed they got fed up by my pestering…!"

"Now that's not very nice of you, Lady Leonore…!"

Aunt Leon chuckled to herself, "Sorry! But they started to get on my nerves, Nanny Beth!" she whined mockingly and sipped her tea, and cringed again.

------------

Heero stared at the city lights from the curved bridge above the made river on top of the hotel roof, the water flowed to a waterfall passed two levels down to a pool at the lower floor; some spotlights placed strategically and made it look like a picture in a storybook. The night sky poured a thin drizzling shower and he welcomed the cool touches of the spray on his face. Sometimes he'd glance at Aunt Leon laughing over some jokes Duo said randomly over their dinner at the restaurant's table by the window, and the warm lit picturesque pinched his heart; he thought it's what the kind of life Duo would have if he didn't get involved with him…and that Shinigami.

Blowing his breath slowly and watched the thin white fog of his breath penetrated by some pouring spray and dissolved into the air, Heero pulled his eyes from the wide window and ignored his constricted chest.

"What are you looking at? You're getting wet out here…!" Duo asked softly and held him with both hands from behind. Heero blinked at him and glanced at the window where Aunt Leon was still sitting at her table. "Aunt Leon met someone of her acquaintance and I take my refuge out…!" Duo chuckled inhaling Heero's smell and rubbing his own cheek at the side of Heero's head half covered by his jacket hood.

Suddenly Duo tightened his hold and lifted his small body up, Heero opened his mouth but no yelp came out; he twisted his body behind and grabbed at Duo's upper arm when he realized Duo swung his feet above the low balustrade of the stone bridge. "What…?" Duo chuckled, "I won't throw you down, Heero. It's a better view seeing it like this, right? I got you…!" Duo held him and maneuvered Heero's sitting body to lean on his front.

Heero's tightness melted gradually, Duo chuckled again at his expression, "Why? You think I would hurt you in such a public place…?"; but that actually made Heero stiffened again, he turned his upper body but he didn't have the time to look at Duo's face since he tilted his head down and covered his mouth. Heero widened his eyes as he was actually facing Aunt Leon's window and though Duo's head covered his face from her sight, it's obvious that she could figure out what they were doing; like, now…Heero stared at her staring at them, she spoke to her acquaintance for a few seconds and pulled the curtain's flies covering the window's view.

……_.she knew…!_ Heero didn't know whether to feel relieved or worried, he somewhat realized Duo's mouth left his and he was rubbing his cheek on his forehead again like a cat, purring as he enjoyed the contact. "I said, let them know…!" Duo whispered. Heero's face flustered as he heard it; so Duo actually made it as a show, even to Aunt Leon? "What do you think she would do, separate us?" Duo's crossing hands at Heero's front tightened, and he rubbed Heero's stiff left upper arm with his right hand as if trying to get him warm.

Heero felt his leftover strength drained from him, and he melted in Duo's arms, leaning behind feeling Duo's warmth seeped through their thick clothes; and the beating of his heart, too, thumping from behind on the exact place where he should have his own heart beating.

"I love you, Heero…!" Duo mumbled to his hair, smiling gently; but Heero knew it was coming from his obedience-induced mind, so he didn't answer in any kind, he didn't deny that confession either, at least he felt happy when he heard it. Keeping the hope that Duo would really love him made him able to open his eyes every morning; even after such hard and brutal night.

The three of them got home when Heero almost fell asleep in Duo's arms, it's been another hard day for his 12-year old body and mind, and he decided that he would attend school tomorrow, no matter Duo's reason for not letting him go to that place. Being kept in the house and always minding the house workers' safety was more tiring than having a rough ritual; at least in their bonding ritual he knew no one would get hurt besides themselves.

"…you sure your brother is alright?" Aunt Leon asked with a low voice while walking Duo with Heero in his arms to Heero's room.

"He just feels like sleeping since he wanted to go to school tomorrow, and he's someone who had his own world and could just fall asleep when his body said it wanted to take the nap…!" Duo chuckled at the end.

Aunt Leon frowned, "He hadn't had his voice back, right?"

"Hu? …oh, he croaked something today…!" Duo shrugged, "But he'd rather let me have the trouble and speak for him…!"

She huffed, "You know, you're spoiling him too much, and only get him more and more restrained…!"

'…_awh, you wouldn't want to know what kind of restraints I put on him…!_' Duo's mind leered, and Duo chuckled to pull his mind back; but Aunt Leon seemed to think that he was chuckling to her words and she playfully gave him a pat on his head.

Without they knew it they already at Heero's door, Aunt Leon opened the door for Duo and he put Heero gently on the bed, taking off his damp jacket afterwards. "But it's not like he's hurting anybody, Aunt Leon…!" Duo reasoned with his wide smiling eyes from his lower view as he sat on the bed. She ruffled his head as answer to those irresistible eyes and said a goodnight, and left her chuckling nephew walked her to the door of Heero's room.

Duo took his shoes and outfit off, did the same with his brother and changed him into a more comfortable shirt, amused at him not waking up in the process; then joined in into the blanket cocoon and held him like a bolster. Duo slept and found himself drowned in darkness again, he felt anxious but at least he wasn't seeing nightmare, his mind whispered.

------------

It was in the middle of the night, Heero could feel the pull of another day getting born somewhere in the flow of Time; writing another punishment for him which he'd face for another day. He moved in Duo's embrace and felt the friction on his lower body; he wasn't surprise finding Duo didn't change him into another pair of pants or underwear and let him only clad in his night shirt under the blanket.

His body felt like floating, he recognized such sensation was only when he had to deal with--…

Heero snapped his eyes wide open and found a pair of black-hollow of eyes with two red shining pupils staring at his face with a smile. "…ahh…, the angel wakes up…!" Shinigami purred, and Heero knew he didn't have the strength to fight back.

------------

------------

Thx for reading ….(saru is surrently waiting the downloads of some yaoi scanlations, hehee)


	5. fifth day

**Shallow Mist march 31, 09**

_**Disclaimer**__: G-boys not saru's (not available to buy anywhere; even though saru might have no money to even try make a bargain over Heero…)_

_**Warning**__: critical AU, supernatural beings, violence, edgy Duo_

**5. fifth day **_-common sense said: bright day and dark night_

The birds' chirps stirred Duo, and he found himself waking up alone on Heero's bed. He propped his body on his elbows and kneeled on four, his body felt light as if floating and there's a coated sensation all over his skin like being shrouded by an invisible feather-light cloth or thick air. He'd known that sensation all too well, sometimes he woke up and every cell in his body singing a victory song like that, it only happen when he won over Heero in their bonding-ritual; he didn't know how, or on what term…he just won over Heero…

Throwing the blanket from his body and jumped to the floor, Duo's eyes searched for shreds of cloth, likely Heero's night shirt; and finding nothing of the sort. Feeling a little relief, Duo hurriedly walked to the bathroom; he didn't make any noise as his steps extremely light that he himself wondered whether he was really floating. Finding the shirt he'd put on Heero last night folded neatly on the laundry basket near the bathroom door calmed his worry a little. He knocked on the bathroom door knowing that there's no sound of shower or any activity inside, he frowned as his mind whispered that Heero might not be in there.

Heero was sitting on the toilet facing the water tank; he looked as if he was sitting on someone's lap, with his back plain for anyone who entered the bathroom to see. He had a small towel covered his head and the ends dangled to the front of his shoulders to the chest, and nothing else on his body except for some traces of drying water.

The silence alerted Duo as he realized Heero sat there unmoving like a statue, his face was down-casted and there was a solid air around him that giving the impression it would break if anyone touched it physically. Duo was at a lost, it was the first time he found Heero like this; consequently, after a brutal night Heero wouldn't leave him alone in bed, because they would inspect their damages in the shower together. Duo tried to find his voice to call him, but he didn't have the courage, somehow; there were only the sounds of dripping water from Heero's wet hair, fell from his bangs to the lid of the toilet where he sat. The whole picture was just wrong in Duo's eyes, so he dared himself to approach Heero and extended one finger to touch him.

Heero's body jerked before it touched him and he leaped from the toilet in a fluid turn deflecting Duo's hand in the process, he banged his back flat to the wall next to the toilet with wide frightened eyes, and nervously covered his chest with the towel ends gripped in both hands. But Duo already saw the cuts on his chest; intersecting lines made of two sets of four uneven lines; he widened his eyes in shock…_that's an upside-down cross made from fingernails-scratch cuts!_ The cuts were opened and showed his red flesh under his skin, even though they're not bleeding anymore.

"……wha--….who…?!" Duo made a fish-mouth as his mind couldn't find his ability to form words with his lips. He intended to see the wounds again; but Heero's hand deflected his hand again even harder, crossing his arms covering his chest and trembled with a hunched pose, his long wet bangs covered his expression.

Duo felt like there was a huge bucket of icy water dumped on him, the cold stung along his spine and he felt like his joints would break if he moved.

"……I…" he found his voice again after some long minutes passed and Heero seemingly bent under the pressure and slid down the wall squatting on the floor, "…did……that?"

Heero's down-casted head shook hastily; "…then…who?!" Duo's voice almost sounded like he's going to get hysterical. "Who did it if it wasn't mee--…?!!" he yelled anxiously, his sight of a balled Heero blurred by sheen of tears.

"Heerooo…--?!!" his voice hitched by his constricted throat and he could actually hear the sounds of his tears dropped on the floor. Heero jerked in surprise and maybe fear; he trembled uncontrollably and could only shake his head jerkily, hiding his face from Duo's eyes.

That was the first time Duo hated himself for hurting his Heero…

------------

Aunt Leon seemed surprised finding them at the dining table in the kitchen where they used to have breakfast before her, and already dressed in their black uniform. Heero was half distractedly turning the handle of his tea cup with one finger; poking it to left, then to right, to the left again. She stared at Duo and knowing the reason for his behavior, Duo was somewhat ignoring him, his air was just shut off; eating his cereal in silence, he didn't even acknowledge her coming.

"…Good morning!" Aunt Leon smiled sounding her amusement to cover her concern; she didn't want to make the situation worse.

"…'morning…" Duo answered without looking at her.

"How are you today, Heero?" she sat on her usual seat, taking the newspaper from the shelf in her way.

"…fine" Heero answered with a small sound, and then gave her his polite slow nod as an afterthought. Aunt Leon only blinked at his sudden politeness, it's like he treated her as a stranger he couldn't escape; and she thought Heero already saw her like almost a family until yesterday.

She cleared her throat once and randomly opened the newspaper pages; "Are you sure?"

"He's fine when he said he's fine, Aunt Leon…!" Duo muttered staring at his bowl; that was rude of him that Aunt Leon snapped her head to him.

She stared Duo critically and noticed the red flag waving boldly on the battlefield she didn't want to fight in; then she shrugged ignorantly, "If you say so…!"

Flipping the obituary section, she frowned and distractedly took a chocolate cookie from the plate.

"Someone you know?" Duo asked seemingly trying to have a conversation, but his tone was almost cynical. "You always searched the obituary first before reading the articles…!" Duo said when she looked at him again.

Aunt Leon stared him for a few seconds; perhaps she didn't think that Duo noticed it, or that what she did was that obvious for others. "Umm…habit?" she tried with the cookie between her lips.

Duo stilled staring at his bowl for a pause, he seemed like he was thinking what to say but didn't find anything worth conversing about; he continued and finished his cereal without another word. Aunt Leon knew that there was something going on between the boys but she didn't want to get burnt, so she let them to themselves and stood to the counter where the ingredients for her healthy-juice-with-yucky-color already prepared by the maid and she made her brew in the blender.

"...the plants in a garden suddenly burst in fire, is it something that usually just happens in this town?" Duo asked skeptically.

"Maybe it was the weather…" Aunt Leon tried.

"In hot dry summer perhaps, but in this kind of damp weather…?" he stared at her at the counter, followed her to her seat with his eyes. She sipped the juice once and Duo knew the truth was already flushed down her throat with that juice.

"Maybe it was something like that instantaneous-combustion thing…!" she answered playfully.

Duo stared and he knew she didn't really say it jokingly; "Do you belief the saying about the fire-torchers are really exist…?"

She either choked a snicker or actually choked on her juice, "…You interested in things like those?"

"Because my parents died in a fire…!" Duo said glumly with a serious expression. Aunt Leon swallowed her smile and looked at him seriously.

"Why do you ask?"

"Your detective-friend said they didn't find anything left of intentional arson in the garden--…!"

She sighed, "I don't know what to think, Duo. They're still investigating, though…!" Duo saw there was some honesty in her eyes, and knew that she wouldn't deliberate anything more than that.

"So you don't belief in supernatural things?"

"I like keeping myself open-minded, Duo…!" she smiled.

"But…?"

"……but I don't want to blame such things for what I couldn't accept…!" she stared her newspaper again, "And you're right, I found someone I knew in the obituary…"

"Heart-attack is pretty often in this town…?" Duo took his empty bowl to the sink.

Aunt Leon glanced at him for a while, "I guess…!"

"It wouldn't be good for business if the tourists found out about what kind of crimes occurred here, right…?"

"And you're saying?" Aunt Leon was calmly smiling at her newspaper.

"…they often write heart-attack in the obituaries about unsolvable deaths or murders…!" Duo said washing the bowl just for distraction.

"…you think?"

"I spent too much time in the police station, Aunt Leon…!" Duo said matter-of-factly; she only chuckled at that.

"I thought you'd say that…!"

Duo stared her with skeptical eyes from the counter, picking an apple and put it in his jacket pocket. "Right…!" he said and slung his school bag across his chest, picking Heero's bag in his hand. "Let's go, Heero…"

"Bye, Aunty…!" Duo took a peck at her cheek, while Heero stood beside his chair and gave her a polite nod.

"Don't call me aunty, it sounded old…!!" she complained loudly to the doorway, Duo chuckled in the corridor.

------------

The school was somewhat too busy in Duo's sight, or was it because he wanted to avoid the students' attention? He'd fairly forgotten about what Heero had done the last day they're there that would center their attentions to the boy, thanks to the happenstances at home…mainly about what happened in the bathroom this morning. He couldn't help but notice Heero's feeble movements, and his eyes always glanced back at him in fear that his brother would suddenly collapse, while he had to mind other students as well. It's tiring him mentally and he got irritated more than he liked.

Being late for the first couple of days made them miss the busy corridors before class, but seeing the crowded corridors in the morning added to Duo's stress, and he'd already pulled his endurance since early morning, too. Duo gritted his teeth and almost growled at everyone who happened to get close enough with his brother walking behind him, …say like, about a meter close…?

Quatre chuckled materializing at his side from a junction; Trowa had the penchant to walk behind the line and watched everything from a wider view so he followed behind Heero. "Good morning!" Quatre flashed Duo a shining grin.

"You look uptight first thing in the morning; did you wake on the wrong side or something?" Quatre asked good-humoredly.

"I'd say yes to that…!" Duo groused with an irritated tone, but the blond boy only chuckled amusedly, seemingly he wouldn't even find it offensive if someone ever told him to fuck-off; Quatre walked with him still smiling to the world in general and didn't try anything more. But even Duo had to admit Quatre's light air calmed him down a bit, and Trowa being behind Heero meant that he shouldn't worry about the people passing them and their attention or curiosity; he sighed deeply once. "I'm sorry, I had an unpleasant recollection about my past…!"

"I heard about the fire, is everyone alright?" Quatre asked with concern.

Duo massaged his temples, "…is that happening often here?"

"Hmm…you could say that…" Quatre made a thoughtful pose with his forefinger poking his chin, Duo's head snapped at him hearing that; "But usually no one gets hurt unless they jumped into the fire…!"

"Trees…?!" Duo scowled, "Trees suddenly went on fire in the middle of the night…?! Even the damp grass?!" it wasn't really in the middle of the night, but he made his point. Some students turned their heads at him for his sudden outburst, or perhaps at his words?

"Well…one thing I could say, Duo, is that you shouldn't worry yourself too much. If things like that weighed on your mind that much, you wouldn't be able to concentrate on other things…!"

Quatre suddenly had himself caged to the wall by Duo's hands in front and behind his head, "…our parents died in a fire, tell me I shouldn't worry about that happening again…!" Duo hissed; he could feel Trowa's eyes burnt on him and there was a silent hum from other students seeing what he was doing; in the back of his mind he realized the others treated the blond as someone untouchable to some extent. Quatre stared Duo levelly, and Duo knew that the blond was serious with his words and he wouldn't take other's reason and excuse, despite his vulnerable appearance he was an obstinate prominent person and Duo yielded to his clear unwavering pale-blue eyes.

"…sorry, you're right. I had too many things piled up in my mind and I could only concentrate at minding them as problems…!" Duo said averting his eyes from Quatre's and continued his walk, ignoring Quatre walking beside him seemingly didn't mind being ignored.

The time in class dragged slowly in Duo's anxious view, he was agitated enough that he had one hand rapping on his thigh under the table the whole time; he even stared back at the teachers every time they looked at him or his brother. On the other hand, Heero hadn't looked him in the eyes since morning; Duo was thinking whether the cuts were still hurting since Heero somehow had his shoulders slumped even though it was to his eyes only; he hadn't let Duo touched him, either. Heero didn't even let him put the coat on him like usual; it's as if just being near him was hurting for Heero.

What else in this world could get to him more than Heero avoiding him? Heero hating him, maybe…but that's not possible, right? His mind conceited; Heero wouldn't ever hate him, he was vital for Heero, right? Heero needed him…!

……right?

Duo threw the pencil he gripped onto the open textbook on his desk agitatedly, he wanted…-_needed_ an exit and he vaguely realized it was what Heero felt most of the time; he began surveying the open windows and closed doors, the leeway on the ceilings and walls. He even wondered if he could just attack the teacher and ran away from the classroom…

Duo felt Quatre's eyes on him by his left side near the window to the terrace, and Trowa's eyes from the right side of Heero near the class backdoor; he thought he might have making too many movements that they couldn't help but notice him. The six-bells sounded and he got up from his seat instantly even before the teacher got to the door exiting the class, he might have made quite a noise that some students in front and around him stared at him from their desks.

"Let's go, Heero…!" was the only thing he said and he hastily put the books and other things in his bag and did the same thing with Heero's, leaving the bags lay on the desks and he literally dashed outside to the corridor.

Once he got to an end of the corridor on the open terrace, Duo breathed heavily, he felt dizzy and nauseous; he doubled on the balustrade and wondering if he would feel better if he could retch. The breeze eased his feverish skin and face a little, and he looked around and realized Heero didn't follow him. Running frantically into the corridors he came from he saw when he turned the junction that Heero was squatting by the wall surrounded by a few older students, and there was a bigger student pulling his arm up while his Heero was shaking his head over and over.

Duo saw red and charged without even feeling his body moved.

"…Reed!" Bard took a couple steps back, calling in alarm for his big friend who was pulling the new boy from the floor; they were only asking whether the boy wanted to go to the infirmary since he didn't look too good, leaning to the wall unmoving and slid to the floor when they actually asked him what was wrong.

"Duo…!!"

Duo heard Quatre's voice calling his name with desperate tone from behind him, and a series of yelps of pain and surprise followed. His grayed sight showed in blurs that Trowa was kneeling in front of Heero on the floor guarding, keeping a respectable distance so as to not touching him. And Duo felt there were hands pulling at his body and hands, and there was the sound of panic commotion and shouting; he remembered that voice shouting in rage……it was his own voice.

"Stop it…DUO…!!" Quatre's slender hands were incredibly strong as the petit boy pulled him from the floor; he had both Duo's wrists gripped in his hands from behind, pressing Duo's body flat to his front and took him several steps behind.

He felt his body jerked and jolted in Quatre's hold trying to get away…and maybe kill someone…

"I'll take it from here…!" a calm silky voice heard near his right ear and Duo felt a hand draped casually around his neck, and Quatre let him go.

"…PK…!!" there were murmurs of surprise and relief addressing someone. Duo suddenly felt his strength drained and his anger suppressed by an infinite calmness, which he could only describe as, flowing from the hand and the air around that someone at his right side.

He tried to breathe in some air deeply and he realized his breaths sounded like pained moans instead. When his sight not so gray anymore he tried to glance at the person smiling at him, his face was so close; and he vaguely remembered he mouthed something like '…Ms. Wintergreen…?' feeling like he almost broke in tears.

The beautiful face smiled happily, "Close…! Can you walk?"

Duo blinked rapidly at the gentle face, "No…! Heero is--…"

"--alright! Why don't you walk with me, Maxwell-san?" the smiling Japanese-doll already pulled him along with him, it was a gentle flow but Duo didn't even realize his feet moving, he felt like floating; perhaps it was the way the other boy addressed him that caught him off guard.

Behind them he could hear the other students' voices in alarm; "Don't move him that much…!"

"Hurry to the infirmary!"

And a worry "Are you okay, Reed…?"

Duo tried to look behind, his head swaying but he needed to see whether his Heero was really alright, but the hand draped around his neck didn't allow him. "Right this way, Maxwell-san…!" the Japanese-doll intentionally took a turn in the junction so that he couldn't see the scene.

"But--…!!" Duo tried to squirm away from the hand but he was surprised finding that he couldn't do it, couldn't _want_ to do it was more exact. He snapped his face at the smiling face near his in confusion, noting the boy was about his height given a few centimeters shorter, and his complexion was such a porcelain smoothness, with eyes a shiny black-gems color. His full-black pin was because it was a black cross on a black shield.

"Others call me PK, Maxwell-san…!" he offered seeing his befuddled expression. They entered a small living room somewhere and PK pleased him to sit on the sofa, offering him a glass of cool water and a wet towel from the sink by the wall.

Duo finished the content of the glass and cooled his face and forehead with the towel, he felt his body didn't tremble so much anymore and the other boy sat in the chair in front of him; there was no table in the middle of the circle of sofa set, only the thick pelt rug on the floor; and he somewhat felt exposed. "……what is a PK…?" Duo asked hesitantly.

"Something like a counselor or something…?" he asked skeptically.

PK chuckled lightly, propping his chin with a hand on the armchair. "P is for President. I'm the President of the Student Council…!"

Duo muttered a low 'ooh' cynically, averting his eyes from the boy's gaze reading him like an open Pandora-box. He cursed something to the wet towel end. The phone on the small table at one corner of the room ringed and Duo jumped, PK calmly walked to it and picked it up; apparently it was someone reporting about the incident he'd made. Duo stared at the President while he was talking on the phone, he was nicely slender and the whole image reminded Duo of a black-and-white sparrow; something he'd seen in a Japanese painting, perhaps. His Asian traits made him look fragilely small, and somehow he had the urge to keep him in a glass-box like a Japanese-doll. He frowned at his own mind doing the thinking, and decided to think nothing just to calm himself.

PK sat back on the chair, keeping his hands at his front with his elbows on the armchairs; his fingers were intertwined neatly, and Duo didn't like the gentle smile on his face.

"Reed-san had his arm broken in two places and some dislocated joints in his knuckles and fingers. Baldric-san is possibly going to have a bad bruise on his left cheek tomorrow…!" PK started conversationally.

Duo gave him defiant eyes, but didn't counter his black eyes directly.

PK smiled at the silence fell in the room, "K is for Kahlua…!" he offered suddenly.

"What…?!" Duo groused but stared the boy's eyes.

"The booze Kahlua…!" PK nodded matter-of-factly.

"Whaat…?" Duo's lips quirked at one end, sounded at a lost at the sudden change of topic.

"That's my name!" PK pointed at his own face with wide childish eyes.

"Hu…?!" Duo sweat-dropped.

"I have it easier, though. My sister's name is Killya, Kill for short…!" Duo snickered reflexively at that and caught himself, flustered a little at the winning smile on PK's face and he averted his face. He hated admitting he got himself flowing along in someone else's pace, but it seemed that he had to acknowledge this boy's presence.

Waiting for several breaths span, he said "…sorry…!" silently, he didn't know why he couldn't control his anger and he didn't even remember the students he'd attacked; he was sure others would see him as a berserker by now.

"That's okay; my sister likes the name, actually…!"

"……" Duo sweat-dropped in irritation and knew the smiling boy did it on purpose, acting like he didn't catch what he was saying about. Somehow he felt like fleeing but couldn't escape the boy's presence.

"The door is unlocked, by the way…!" PK smiled earnestly. And Duo groaned knowing the boy was playing him on his palm. And PK chuckled as if knowing his mind and enjoying it, Duo gave him an acidic look.

------------

Duo entered the attic room hesitantly, PK walked him until the doorway; he saw that the room had two layers of door panels, the outer one was somewhat an old wooden door with some classic engravings at its corners, while the one at the inner side was a solid thick black metal door with the largest padlock he'd ever seen hung from the door grip at the outer side. He was surprised that the inner side of the black metal door had a locking mechanism as well, one that was pretty common in normal houses; but the barred small window with a sliding cover about the face-height of the metal door confirmed Duo that it was indeed such a prison door.

PK said his "Don't get too bored in there…!" with a smile and going to close the wooden panel; "You're not going to lock this prison door up?" Duo asked in mere curiosity.

PK chuckled at that; "Well, you have it easy because you're a Maxwell, Maxwell-san…!" and with that he closed and lock the wooden door from the outside. Duo waited until the sounds of his footsteps disappeared at the other far end of the corridor; the President said that he got school detention for 3 days and they would inform his home for his leave. He also said that Heero was sleeping soundly in the infirmary, seemingly due to anemic and fatigue; and someone from home would get him when the school time was over; but Duo knew that it was just an excuse to make him conceded.

Duo turned around with a deep scowl, PK did say that being a Maxwell they would only detain him for some period of time and not instantly expel him but he wouldn't always have that as an excuse if he kept going with his behavior.

"…so this is what a reflection-chamber looks like?" he asked the room in general. Actually the room was well lit by the sunlight since there were two small windows with –surprisingly- window boxes nicely fill with plants outside, even though the windows had bars planted in the windowsills guarding the shelves. There were two bunk beds placed by the walls of either sides of the room and Duo noticed the cement line in the middle of the room meant that the room was originally two rooms separated by a wall and perhaps someone decided to make it more spacious and tore down that wall; though he stared foully at the mean-looking metal rings planted at either sides of the big-bad metal beam above the cement line on the ceilings. Somehow he could picture that those rings were used for hanging chains of some shackles or other creepy things they used a metal ring on the ceiling for in some gothic-prison.

Some silver chandeliers on the tables with embroidered tasseled cloths and candelabrums on the corners made the room looked a bit like a classic-home hotel room, and some small paintings on the walls only added to the feel. He saw two big crosses hung on the side walls and almost groaned as he could see that those were silver crosses; _what wrong with this school and this silver-cross fetish…?! Oh, right; this school's name is Silver-Cross…!!_ Duo's brain cells had a brawl in his brain cavity for awhile, Duo sighed them off.

Walking several steps into the room, he turned and was quite surprised finding a pair of swords placed on a red velvet square base with gold engravings frame hung on the wall aligned with the door. The swords were supported by small crested nails which apparently the original set with the swords; they looked expensive and Duo recognized that the gold frame was really gold; _then it would be beyond expensive, right?_ _What such things are doing in the reflection-chamber?_

"…jin…dao…!" Duo breathed with amazement, "A pretty jin, and a cocky dao…!" he observed the slender gold-orchid crested jin under the gold-dragon crested dao, not really daring his hand to touch them; they looked imposing in the light.

"Most others would call them 'swords'…!" a voice said levelly from the upper bed in front of the door; Duo jumped in surprise and he didn't feel anyone besides him in the room. He snapped his head to the direction of the voice and found the Chinese boy he'd seen in the first day of Mr. Copper's class; he was lying on his back using the light from the window to read the book he held with his left hand, while his right hand placed behind his head; crossing his bent legs and looking very comfortable with himself.

Duo blinked his surprise and muttered a hello. The Chinese boy only glanced at him and back staring at his book; there was a long silence after that as Duo didn't know the situation but it seemed that the Chinese boy was being detained there before him.

"So you know about swords?" the Chinese boy asked.

"…a little…!" Duo stared him, "My late father liked to collect weapons, not only swords. But he hated fire arms, though…!" he frowned, daring himself. "And you are…?"

The Chinese boy smirked to his book, "A cocky dao-user…!"

"Oh…" Duo sweat an uneven smile, it seemed that today was not his perfect day, so he decided to dive in since he already got both feet wet. "That dao is yours?"

"You want to touch it? It's heavy for normal humans…!" the Chinese boy asked lightly.

"No; it looks imposing…!" Duo told him the truth; that actually got the Chinese boy chuckled lightly.

"Good! So you at least could feel it when you saw one…!" he smirked his amusement.

Duo stared him with a frown, and the situation was not actually fit his mind. "Wait…you live here?"

The Chinese boy's snicker exploded cynically, "I'm _being kept_ here! But you're right; this is my room, since I don't want to live in the dorms with those smelly money-bred brats…!"

Duo took some time to mull at what he said.

"I have my own keys…!" the Chinese boy offered.

"Ohh…!" Duo muttered low in comprehension. "Oh, and I forgot to introduce myself, I'm--…"

"A Maxwell…!" the Chinese boy cut him flatly, Duo thought he sensed some loathing in his voice but he shook it off. "I'm a Hunter, Maxwell…"

Duo blinked at that, "…yes?"

"And you are _food_…!" the Chinese boy turned his face a little staring him condescendingly; "Mere black-edge!"

"Excuse me?!" Duo beginning to feel the loathing actually directed at him.

"…though, I mostly don't care about them anymore; they brought their foods along so they aren't some lowlife bloodsuckers that hunt at night here…--" the Chinese boy stared back at his book.

"…what?!" Duo paled with an 'I've been caught' expression in disbelief.

"--…but I wouldn't even guess that someone your caliber would be degraded to mere _food_…!" he smirked, "Not in a hundred years…!!" and chuckled his amusement.

"You…!!" Duo pointed a finger.

"A Hunter; yes! I said that, didn't I?" he glanced at Duo with a mocking smirk, "…and that sword on the wall, is this cocky-Hunter's sword for hunting creatures such as your kind. So it's right if you found it imposing…if you're a bit more aware you would be able to smell the stinking smell of the blood of the likes of you wafting from the blade…!"

Duo stiffened and felt his hairs stood on ends and his nape started to burn with alerted heat, he stared at the Chinese boy with fury and he readied himself to have a fight. "You're one of those Slayers thing…?!"

The Chinese boy chuckled calmly, "No, Hunters are not Slayers; though we're about the same skilled…!" Duo didn't seem like he would lower his guard for that; so he continued. "Slayers go right for the kill, we Hunters have our own purposes; we could work for the likes of you if it's to our benefits…!"

"Like mercenaries on both sides? You're even lower than us…!!" Duo said disgustedly. The Chinese boy chuckled to himself at that.

"How many days they put you in here?"

Duo didn't answer at the sudden conversational question.

"You wouldn't stand it if you have to act like you're ready for a fight in another second like that; I said I don't find you threatening to human-kind here, so you should just take it if I say I won't suddenly attack you with that dao…!"

"I'm in a long suspension here, anyway; I don't want to get my privileges stripped away…!" he added as an afterthought.

Duo gritted his teeth in stubbornness, he'd felt that this school was VERY WRONG since the first day, but he wouldn't guess what he'd find here; the Chinese boy snorted and put his open book on his chest.

"My name is Chang Wufei, you can call me either Chang or Wufei; just don't openly call me Hunter…you would cause a chaos that would lead to a mass slaughter here; there are other pairs beside you and your younger brother…!"

Duo's eyes widened at that, that feeling of being flushed by an even larger bucket of icy water hit him.

"Of course I would know your gold-pair, you clearly showed him to me on the terrace; and everyone else and the world with your behavior…!" Wufei frowned disapprovingly, "You should control your lust and possessiveness to some extent; at least you could act like _normal_ in front of the humans…?"

Wufei snorted again and picked his open book continuing his reading; "Didn't that darn-smiling-PK tell you as well…?!"

Duo felt like he was suddenly caged in a small Pandora-box and he tried not to show that he's beginning to suffocate; loosening his shoulder muscles little by little and took some deeper and slower breaths.

"By the way…" Wufei started, "Maxwell was the first Slayer; thus they're the noble-Slayer family up till now, don't you know that yourself…?!"

………and Duo's shocked eyes saw white as he could only hear statics after that lightly conversational tone.

------------

------------

Thanx for reading…beginning to dive into the core, aren't we? Hehee..


	6. sixth day

**Shallow Mist march 31, 09**

**_Disclaimer_**_: G-boys not saru's (not available to buy anywhere; even though saru might have no money to even try make a bargain over Heero…)_

**_Warning_**_: critical AU, supernatural beings, finally some actions…!_

**6. sixth day **_-……and sixth night_

Duo woke up from his shock and to his peevishness he realized that it was already passed noon of the next day. "……I'm going senile…!!" he complained dreadfully to no one in particular, looking up to the bottom of the upper bunk bed. He huffed and decided to get up; his inspection of the room yesterday showed him that aside from the sink next to the bricked-door in front of his bunk-bed, there was a wooden door on the wall at his side of the room. He hoped it was the bathroom door, not a storage room, he didn't think he could do it if he had to use the potty or a bucket…what was he, a damned little brat…?!

Duo chuckled wryly at his own cynical joke, sitting up and scratching his head noticing he had his hair undone, Duo swung his legs off the bed and stood on the floor, not minding the blanket fell to the floor. He yawned heavily once, scrubbing his eyes he felt the soft breeze on his skin from the open barred window next to the bed. There was the clicking sound of turning key by the door, and the wooden door opened by Wu Fei with a tray in one hand.

Wu Fei paused as he turned after locking the wooden door again from the inside and saw Duo stood beside the bed, looking ignorantly out the window. "Oh, you're awake……,--are you…?" Wu Fei crooked one end of his lips with an uneven frown on his face.

"Huh…?" Duo turned his face to the Hunter-boy then looked down at his body. "……you're not commenting about my in-the-buff state, right…?" Duo frowned without shame of his nakedness. And he stared Wu Fei with narrowed eyes, Wu Fei scowled at him seriously but Duo seemed to see his mouth was almost forming a pout.

"……what is that suspicious stare meaning? If you think I stripped you naked and molested you while you're out of it, then you're out of your mind!! I'd rather use the time for just even thinking about that for meditation, instead…!" Wu Fei walked to the table on Duo's side of the room and put the tray of food; "…and to think that I'm being courteous enough to get you your lunch…!" he muttered and headed to his own lower bed and sat there cross-legged.

"…right; thanks…!" Duo stared at the tray, opened the cover napkin and picked a small piece of meat and put it in his mouth, seeing from the end of his eyes that the Hunter-boy was actually meditating with closed eyes.

"Go to the bathroom, and PUT ON SOME CLOTHES…!!" Duo jumped at Wu Fei's sudden yell; he almost gasped his small piece of meat into his windpipe.

"You don't seem to be bothered by my nudity; you're meditating with closed eyes, anyways…!!" Duo spat back.

"THAT'S BECAUSE I HAVE TO ERASE SOME NUDE-IMAGE OF A PARTICULAR SOMEONE, MAXWELL…!!"

Duo pouted acidly, "…and, what's wrong with this NUDE-IMAGE of a particular someone, Mr. Cocky-Chang…?!" he purred his anger, making a confident pose with a hand on his hip.

Wu Fei scowled in his meditation, his mouth actually pouting for some breaths span; "…I'd rather not see your bitten-marks…!" he said silently. And that apparently made Duo aware of the marks from Heero's bites leaving traces of redden circles on his creamy skin, he instantly covered the base of his neck where Heero bit a couple of days ago with his palm.

Wu Fei snorted without opening his eyes, "Your wrist needs a cover, too…!"

And Duo stared at the same marks on the wrist of his lifted hand; he didn't remember when those were made, his face darkened with a scowl as he realized it must have been yesterday night when he left the cross-cuts on Heero's chest that he didn't remember of doing.

"Then…" Wu Fei started and broke Duo's contemplation, "GO TO THE BATHROOM AND PUT SOME CLOTHES ON BEFORE I CHASE YOU DOWN WITH A DAO…!!"

Duo jumped a couple steps behind; "Seesshhh…no need to be THAT GROUCHY, Wuffee-boy...!!" but Duo complied and half ran to the wooden door at his wall-side, finding a small shower bathroom inside and a toilet with a small round window high on the side wall, and noticed that the ceiling of the room to the bathroom wall was sloping down while the one to the other side of the bathroom wall was sloping up steeply; he stared at the odd design of the ceilings for a few seconds and he showered still having a severe pout pulled his lips almost rivaling his nose.

"…hey, Wuff…I didn't get my towel with me…!" Duo said sticking his head from the door once he'd done.

"It's in the cabinet next to your wall…!!" Wu Fei hurried to the said cabinet between the bunk bed and the wall, taking a towel from inside and literally slapped Duo's face with it; of which Duo only chuckled about.

"You're not attending class…?"

Wu Fei snorted cynically, "I'm bored with class…!"

"Ohh…part of your privilege, right? Aren't you even more bored locking yourself in here?" Duo walked uncaringly to the bed using the towel to dry his long hair. Wu Fei frowned at his behavior, but didn't say his complaint.

"What? You're going to lecture me about the importance of education, Maxwell?"

"It's Duo! Somehow I get the feeling that you call me Maxwell just to say that you hate me…!" Duo scowled, Wu Fei smirked at him saying that it was exactly that.

"Hey, these are always prepared in this cabinet for the jailbirds?" Duo asked as he found clean pair of clothes and underwear stacked neatly in the drawers.

Wu Fei didn't say anything for several long seconds. Just as Duo thought that he wouldn't answer, he spoke albeit hesitantly; "…No…!"

"These belong to someone I don't know, then? Perhaps someone of your old roommate decided to flush himself into the toilet to escape this room…?!" Duo grinned.

"……your aunt prepared them for you."

Duo snapped his head at Wu Fei, but he knew the reason and shrugged his surprise. Snickered, "Wow, Aunt Leon is really perceptive…!"

"You don't want to ask why?" Wu Fei stared at Duo putting on the clothes.

"I'm not a boy with a clean slate, so I myself already guessed why…!"

Wu Fei seemed like he had something in mind, but he decided to keep it until -perhaps- Duo asked him.

"So, why aren't you attending class, Wuff?"

"It's Wu Fei! I don't think someone like me would have the chance to be a lawyer or a businessman in the next 10-20 years and everyone would like it…I wouldn't like it…!" Wu Fei scowled.

"Why not? You don't smell like a money-bred brat, wouldn't it be good if you get the success by your own hands?" Duo smiled.

Wu Fei had a caught look on his face, he stared Duo with an unreadable look until Duo felt that he'd probably have said something wrong. "You really don't know…?"

Duo cleared his throat, "What? You're actually a money-bred not-brat, perhaps…?" Now that he thought about it, the gold frame and swords set wouldn't come cheap.

Wu Fei stared at the floor, mulling something with a hand covering his mouth and chin in a thinking-pose. "……how old do I look?" he asked Duo levelly.

"Hu…? Well, about my age?--not…??" Duo lifted his brows.

Wu Fei smiled earnestly at his childish act; "How many of your kind you think I've killed?"

That question stilled Duo and he frowned, "…should I think about it?"

Wu Fei smiled again; somehow he looked like he had a parental expression. "I'm maybe several decades old still with this looks; you think anyone would just accept it if someone like a classmate find me being a business colleague still looking like this about 30 years later?"

Duo blinked, stretching the pause for some more moments and blinked again.

"…what if I say I'm actually several centuries old…?" Wu Fei inquired with his wise eyes.

Duo add another blink; "…really?" Then, he grimaced; "Aren't you dead-bored living like that…?!"

Wu Fei exploded his chuckles; he knew a Maxwell wouldn't find it odd about the fact of his life span. "You don't want to know why…?"

Duo averted his eyes, his childish face turned a gloomy shade; "Something to do with the kills you've done, right?"

"You think you wouldn't be like me, Maxwell?" this time he didn't sound it like he hated that name.

Duo silenced, he knew he would have an immortal's life span, unless a Slayer or their kinds would end it for him, or Heero, but he didn't really want to think about it. He shrugged, and ate his lunch in silence; Wu Fei stared at him for awhile, he then proceeded with his meditation until late afternoon.

He found Duo watching his face when he opened his eyes as he felt the breeze from the windows had turned cooler; he was sitting backward on a wooden chair, his front leaning forward to the chair back and his hands were crossed on its top. Perhaps he was wondering whether he's actually asleep in his meditation; "…yes, Maxwell?"

"……how come your body stopped growing at this age…of your looks?" Duo frowned at the words he was using. Wu Fei smiled as he closed his eyes again. "I mean…not that I don't like your youthfulness, Wu; but…"

"You think it would be easier for me if I stopped growing when I'm fully mature?"

"…wouldn't it?" Duo asked with wide eyes.

"It's my first kill…!" Wu Fei stared at the floor, and after that he stood and walked to the bathroom. He came back after a few minutes, his face was wet and his ponytail undone, wiping his face with a small towel he hung on the hanger in the bathroom.

"You stopped growing after your first kill? Are all Hunters like that…?" Duo frowned.

"No. Just my Clan…!" Wu Fei hung the towel on the ladder of his bunk bed.

"How about the Slayers?"

"Didn't your gold-pair tell you anything?" Wu Fei sat on his lower bunk bed and opened a book.

"……he doesn't speak much…!"

Wu Fei smirked; "Why don't you ask 'how about my family'?"

"How about them?"

Wu Fei glanced at his face and stared at his book back. "Why don't you ask your aunt for that matter…!"

"That's slick of you, Mr. Hunter!" Duo frowned in objection, Wu Fei only chuckled.

"Hey, do you know anything about fire?" Duo asked suddenly changing the topic.

"Hay is for horse…!" Wu Fei answered playfully, he could almost hear the sound of Duo's pout pulled his lips forward, and he chuckled again.

"How about the heart-attack victims?"

At that Wu Fei actually stared him with something akin with alert. "Why do you ask?"

Duo squirmed, "Heero thought…that I started the fire…!" he frowned at the floor.

"Did you…?"

Duo snapped his head at Wu Fei's open face, "NO! If I would do it, I'd do it when the flowers he asked from that damn gardener are almost blooming and let him see what I'd do to something he asked from someone else and not me while he was happy waiting for them…!!"

Wu Fei blinked, "…well…at least you're honest about that!"

Duo snorted hard once, "So what do you know about the fire?" he pressed.

Wu Fei mulled at something in his head; "How long have you attend this school?"

"Tuesday, Friday, and yesterday…!"

"…how long have you been…with your Gold?"

Duo scowled, "…since I was eight…!" he didn't seem happy about elaborating it but still told the truth.

"Wow…you're not even a sprout…!" Wu Fei commented with amazement.

"AND…?!"Duo popped up some arteries, "The fire, Mr. Chang?!"

Wu Fei stared back at his open book; after some moments passed he cleared his throat; "…that darn-smiling-PK will torture me if I tell you something I shouldn't have…!"

Duo tsk-ed in annoyance, biting his thumb nail for some time he then dragged the chair to the side of his lower bunk bed; sitting with his back at Wu Fei who was putting his feet stretched on the bed, he did the same: reading, or trying to, or perhaps faking it.

Wu Fei stared the back of his brunette head for some time, despite being a Maxwell, Duo's personality didn't annoy him…much; he might actually find the boy's company not bothersome; and that, for him was something already long forgotten. "……but…" he tried; almost thought that he saw Duo's imaginary cat-ears perked up.

"If you could handle some height…you might just find the answer for yourself…!" Wu Fei inquired without sounding like actually asking. As he thought, Duo's head turned at him and Wu Fei could see the book in his hands was upside down, and he almost chuckled outright.

"The height…?!" Duo frowned and looked down at his upside down book and threw it to the bed.

"The toilet window is unlocked, if you can use it, go outside after dark; I'll tell you where to look…!" Wu Fei smiled; "…but don't get caught! I don't want that darn-smiling-PK smiles me to death…!!"

Duo snickered at that. "You'll know that he was being easy with you yesterday, Maxwell…!"At Wu Fei's scowl Duo lifted both hands in surrender.

------------

"……Who designed this buildingggg…?!!" Duo whined through his gritted teeth; he had half his upper body hanging precariously outside the body-width window frame while his lower body from waist down was still inside the bathroom. Duo regretted his decision to actually use that damn round-window once he saw that the wall outside was actually in a secured nook almost hidden from the outside by trees; only, several stories high from the ground, Wu Fei didn't mention about _that_…!!

"Shut up, Maxwell; someone might hear your whining and put you on shackles in this room if you're caught hanging butts-in head-out unseemly like that…!" Wu Fei commented easily from outside the bathroom with the book still in his hands.

"How should I go _where_…?!" Duo whined again; the rafters above him were about 2.5 meters high, while the corner wall at his right was about 2 meters away; the ledge of the floor-level 2 meters below the window was only about 10 centimeters wide, definitely not designed for someone to walk on it…!

Wu Fei snorted, "Try using your imagination…!" he said lightly.

"YES…!! Thank you, I imagine I can FLY, and it doesn't WORK, Wu Fei …!!" Duo barked. That only brought out some amazed chuckles from the Chinese boy inside, as if he was hearing the best joke of the day; and that made Duo half regretted he said the supposed to be sarcastic remark turned stupidity. He muttered a silent curse under his breath. He tried to see the surroundings more clearly and realized the stucco was of deep reliefs, and…if he could clutch it in firm grips then he could use it to wall-climb his way up to the roof.

"Damn…!" Duo muttered another curse, "…..'m sorry I'm not a spider, me…!" he comforted himself but turned his body facing the last ray of burning sky, and he could see the first star glinting in the vast darkened blue as if cheering for him…_Right! If I to fall down, I'm sure I'd be going to your place, Mr. Star…!_

He was sure that he was just thinking about that, but he heard Wu Fei let out another chuckles inside the room; now he's beginning to think that his mouth did something he wasn't aware of. "Wu Fei ….if I fall down, tell Heero that it wasn't suicide, for me…?" he almost whined while trying to concentrate with his wall-climbing.

"Even if you fall down, you wouldn't die, _Mr._ Food…!" Wu Fei snickered. That made Duo positive that his mouth did something he wasn't aware of a moment before….since Wu Fei answered him; that meant he could hear him, right?

Duo blew a deep breath explosively, lying on the roof with ungracious pose; and not caring about what he looked like right now; anyway, it's only a sole star in the sky witnessing how ungracious he was. The shingles felt warm from the sunlight exposure, even though it's already dark. He made some slips and he was sure he was going to fall more than once; his heart beating like mad and he was grateful that he's a bit more athletic than others…or at least he always thought so.

Feeling the chill ran up his spine now spread to his whole body from the cold night wind, Duo sat up and surveyed his surroundings. Wu Fei was right, the view of the whole town from the school roof was unimaginable; the lights were already on, and as he stared at the city for some moments longer he realized that they made some symbols or whatever seal-like patterns. "Damn…! Why didn't you tell me about this, Heero?!"

Duo had never seen those symbols before, thus he didn't know the meaning; but his mind told him that those were of something crucial as his stomach suddenly felt twisted at witnessing those lights. The street lamps of the maze-like roads made a part of the symbols as well, he realized. "So that's why they made the roads like a damn misleading maze…!"

Another freezing chill ran up his spine as he whispered what his mind told him, "….the City of Slayers…!"

…………_why would Heero….?_

------------

Wu Fei had said something like "Just follow the direction of which light caught your attention the most" and nothing else. And that's why Duo was jumping from roof to roof cursing that it was too cold of a night for this time of season, without even knowing what he was looking for or where.

The tricky part was getting down of the school's roof and get out of the school's forest; but call it the Fate playing with him, everywhere he took the turn after he got out of the school, he saw someone from the school, be it teachers, or the sexy Miss. Secretary, or some other students. Half perplexed, Duo decided that he was fated to travel the city's roofs for the night; all the time muttering something like 'dangerous ground' and some curses.

Near the area of the light-pattern Duo intended, he stopped suddenly as he smelled a thin smoke wafted in the chill night air. He got alerted and fast searched the source; a small loft window where a man smoking while listening to his old gramophone and staring out the window to the streets below, an old man burning some pile of trash in a barrel in a back corner of two buildings, a window to a kitchenette where a woman was cooking, a small patisserie with a smoking chimney… Duo frowned; the city was known for its sweets, there were a lot of patisseries in this town. But something was amiss. He felt his hair stood on ends, he even got goose bumps.

A little rustling sound from the chimney behind surprised him. Duo turned around and didn't realize that his vision turned a black and white shade. A soft coo heard, and a grey pigeon hopped to the chimney's top. Unconsciously Duo let out a sigh of relief. The bird seemed to hear it and it turned its head to face him. Duo blinked as he stared at the bird's black eyes as it cocked its head to the sides and acknowledging him.

_….the all-seeing eyes….!_ Something inside him was screaming, and he didn't even know what it was about. The bird cooed again, and Duo jerked a step behind; it flapped its wings a couple of times and turning around, the bird plunged down into the smoking chimney.

"…what?!" Duo snapped to motion and half ran towards it; he stopped short as the chimney exploded a smoky puff and some feathers into the air. Duo gaped with a deep frown, a moment later he heard a woman screaming 'fire' from inside the house. Half disbelieving what he witnessed, Duo stepped back and shook his head repeatedly denying it.

"….a…bird? …..started the fire…?"

"Look! There's someone on the roof..!!" came a shout from the attic window of the building across the street. Duo was taken by the surprise and he didn't realize that his feet already got to the edge of the roofline. He snapped his face at where the shout came from; it flashed in his mind that he only got himself be the culprit instead of clearing the suspicion on him, now everyone would think he started the fire and not only Heero. A moment later he lost his ground, and while falling down his reflex still managed to safe him.

"The person jumped…!!" a girl's shriek and some other shouts heard.

"…No, I'm not…!" Duo gritted through his teeth as he was clinging on a windowsill of the attic above the third floor. The ledge was mossy and he knew it that his fingers were slipping. The building was a corner three-storey house, and he cursed as he looked down and saw the palings of the lining fences ready to welcome him before he could reached the ground below.

Duo cursed and turned his head behind; the distance to the next building separated by an alley was long enough that he wouldn't be able to reach it without his firm footings, but he thought he didn't have another choice. The worse could happen if he couldn't get a firm hold after the jump was that he would fall to a pile of sacks of coal, but he thought it would be better than being barbecued on the stakes, especially now that the house already on fire…_perfect, right; stakes and fire?_

He took a deep breath and bent his legs, one foot set lower on the wall for his stability and the other was higher for his jumping foothold. He knew he only had one chance, and he could picture it in his mind what he should do, kick his footing and turned around in air like a cat and grab the bars of the other window. Imagining it made it look simple to do. With a hiss Duo kicked his foothold and as the world turned in a half spin he was half aware that he got a good grip on the window bars; only, that he didn't know that the metal bars were greasy.

"…Damn!" Duo widened his eyes as he saw the sight of the cursed window getting higher and the gush of wind on his ears sounded like a low cheering. "I'm gonna be dirty..!" was all he could think as he pictured himself with stains of coal all over his body.

A pale white hand came out of the shadow just under the third storey's window, and caught his arm. Duo yelped as the pull on his hand made the sudden stop and his face hit the dark greasy wall. "….ooowww..!!" Duo whined covering his face and tasted the tangy liquid from his busted lip.

A derisive soft snort made him look up and a girl's smirk greeted him; she was wearing a loose hood that covered half her face up, but Duo knew he didn't have any girl friend in that city. The girl made a hushing motion with her other hand on her smirking lips, and pointed up to the roof. "Whaat..?!" Duo asked disbelievingly as he realized that the girl was bending her body forward to catch him while she was in fact standing on her heels on the very narrow ledge….like a very narrow ledge of only a few centimeters wide.

The girl lowered her body a little and Duo realized she was going to swing him up.

"…wa….wait!" Duo said in panic but his body was already swung with unbelievable force and he perplexedly realized he was thrown even higher than the roof. He landed on his bottom after trusting his body reflex to do some dignified flips, and he cursed a few long lines while rubbing his butts. A soft chuckle behind him made him glare at the hooded girl. A fast look on her only showed Duo that she was wearing a gothic dress covered with a long black cloak; there was a big cross behind her back hung with a black chain across her neck like a loose necklace fastened to her shoulders.

"Let's go!" the girl didn't let Duo gape for long as she pulled his hand again and fled the scene by rooftops. The dress made him remember of a gothic Lolita he once saw in an old painting, and a closer look on the big cross up close revealed to him that it was indeed a crossbow.

"You're a slayer!" Duo's lips were numb after the 'hard kissing' with the wall so he didn't really feel it when he said that.

"You're a Maxwell!" the girl stated flatly.

Duo found that his lungs decided to take a long pause, he shook his head to snap his mind back; "I'm--…!!" even though he wasn't sure that he should confess of what he was, but remembering what Wu Fei told him about his family...

"…-shouldn't be on patrol tonight!" the girl decided the answer for herself. Duo blinked.

"…yes!" that was out of reflex, not exactly a lie. "And you are…?"

"Duck!"

"What?!"

"Cops..!" the girl ducked behind a chimney and pushed Duo's head down.

"What are cops doing blocking the streets?" Duo hissed, half minding that a girl he just met treating his head like that.

"Reacting to the citizen's call reporting that they saw someone setting houses on fire from the rooftops…!" the girl stated calmly.

"I didn't--!!" Duo snapped hotly.

"They wanted you to look like you did it!"

Duo frowned with a thoughtful expression, instantly grasping the situation. "They…..who?"

The girl quickly covered his crouching body with her black cloak as a flashlight from the police car swept the roofs for suspects. "We should get down, they're sweeping the roofs..!" the girl whispered. "There are no balconies around here..!" Duo's answer made the girl chuckled again as if she was hearing a joke. He tsk-ed and said in his heart that he meant it…_seriously…!_ But before he could voice it the girl already pulled him down into the dark alley.

Duo gritted his teeth as he felt the pull of gravity in the air, the next thing he knew was that he had his air knocked out of his lungs as he "landed" himself on the wall like a house-gecko. The very narrow ledge of only a few centimeters was the only thing he had as a ground; now that he thought of it, he was "standing" on his toes but not like a ballerina with her toe-shoe. He cursed his mind for wandering in such a situation.

A rush of air, and Duo felt something light shrouded his back from head down. And then he realized that the girl was still holding his hand, and that it was her inhuman balance that kept him on the wall. "Your hair's shining…!" the girl whispered with an accusing pressure; in normal circumstances Duo would find her words as compliment. "Thank you for noticing, I'm taking good care of my hair…!" Duo whispered back with an innocent tone meant as sarcasm, feeling a flashlight swept their figures as if he felt a hand brushing his skin. He hissed out a curse at the sensation, and the girl gripped his hand tighter as a warning to not move.

Some officers walked down the alley with flashlights in their hands, they were talking through their radios, and Duo could swear that he heard their conversation right in his ears. Trying to calm his raging pulse, he sighed long slowly, closing his eyes. He couldn't actually see anything else beside the wall's bricks right now, but somehow he found that the sounds and voices made a negative-sight in his mind in black and white. '…._it must be the adrenaline…!_' he tried to shake the odd feeling.

"Turn around, now…!" the girl's whisper broke his denial. Duo opened his eyes and just realized that the cloak draped on him already gone, including the police officers as well and their car that was on the alley's entrance a moment before. He widened his eyes, "…turn around how?!"

"Just to hide your hair!" the girl whispered flatly. And even though Duo actually minded with that reasoning, but his head already thinking of how he would turn his body around on such a standing ground.

"…I CAN'T…!!" Duo hissed with enough pressure. All scenarios he played in his mind only ended with ungracious fall.

"…or I'll hack it off…!" the girl said seriously that Duo regretted he got himself successfully intimidated by a girl.

"How about lending me your cloak instead?" he tried to meet halfway.

"I'm _blond_, you, brunette…!" the girl sounded like she felt offended that Duo muttered a low 'sorry' half consciously.

"I'll just let go of your hand for a second and you turn your body around; I'll catch you again…!" the girl whispered slowly. Duo hissed as he felt he was being the inferior but he thought it could work; no, it _had _to work! And without thinking it again he did just as the girl said when she let his hand go, kicking his foot behind in a half circle and hit his back to the wall harder then he intended, Duo got himself plastered to the wall mimicking a ginger-bread's pose with round eyes and uneven smile. And just after several labored breaths passed that he realized the girl didn't hold his hand again.

"See? You can do it if you put your mind into it…!" the girl said levelly; a snort, "…Maxwell's sprout-to-be!" then she added to herself.

Duo was going to retort about that, but he felt it his feet started to tremble. He got himself standing on the end of his heels, and while the girl looking like she was actually standing on a normal ground as she turned around herself and surveying the area somewhat, Duo was feeling that his ankles turned jelly. Anytime now, if there was even only a bird's feather landed on his toes he'd loose his awkward balance…the scenario played in his mind, and thinking it only made his ankles felt worse. He gasped as his ankles gave up and his soles felt the strings of gravity pulling his feet down…and there went his sorry balance.

Duo closed his eyes as he felt his back leaving the wall, but a hand placed at his chest pushed him back and suddenly he felt his body light as a feather. Duo snapped his head instinctively at his other side, finding a smiling Japanese face when he opened his eyes.

'Relax… use your mind to steer your body…' the Japanese face mouthed to him slowly. And Duo only managed to gape in his surprise.

'PK…!' the girl said as a hello; she only mouthed it but Duo could actually "hear" it without even looking at her.

'Sorry for the trouble, but he missed his first extension-class…!' PK mouthed back.

The girl snorted without a sound, 'But now's not the time for fast tutorial!' she commented, 'We should cross the street!' And with only that warning, she grabbed Duo's hand again and jump to the wall across of them, using it as a foothold making an "L" jump; she took Duo flew across the street.

In his stunned condition Duo could still see from the end of his eyes that the street was full of police cars and there were a lot of people gathered around the house that was on fire, with the firefighters and their notable vehicles shooting water as well. The scene was somewhat felt bizarre in his logics; but he was vaguely feeling the relief that their eyes were concentrated to the scene of burning fire and not some suspicious teenagers crossing the street using the air-way.

Duo managed a good landing with the girl's balance, but he didn't have the time to ask anything as she pulled him running on the rooflines of the buildings again, turning -45˚ from the way they were running before; backing the scene of fire and its witnesses. The way they took their route now made them had to cross more streets, but Duo somehow got the idea that logically people will pursue someone along the street from the crime scene, especially when that someone was on foot on the rooftops. While letting himself being pulled around, Duo wondered why a Slayer wouldn't recognized him as a…_black-edge_, as Wu Fei had referred him as; surely he was at least emanating such 'smell', right?

Or was it because he was a Maxwell that the girl helped him? Yes, she stated that he was one before.

As if hearing his thoughts, the girl tilted her head a little at him, 'Try covering your mind; you're going to make them find you!'; she mouthed.

"Whaat..?" Duo whispered in incomprehension. Suddenly the girl threw her head to the side almost looking like she was going to loose her balance and fall, but didn't; and in the split second the space where her head was exploded in fire. Duo widened his eyes as their speed pulled his face straight to the fire; but when he readied himself to feel the burn he got his air knocked out instead, and a sharp pain on his solar plexus as the girl's hand blocked his body into a sudden stop.

While dignifiedly trying to mute his coughing, Duo heard the girl muttered something like a curse. "Featherman…!" she hissed with alert.

Duo looked up and found a statue-of-man made of living pigeons standing on the other edge of the rooftop in front of them. The pigeons cooed and flapped their wings and looking like they were staring at him, it made Duo felt nauseous and not just from the girl's block. "What is that…?" Duo whispered slowly, he didn't sound his panic.

"Your rival…!" the girl stated calmly.

"My what?" Duo straightened his hunched body.

Before the girl could answer more, a few pigeons shrieked un-pigeon-ly and launched themselves at them like torpedoes. Duo knew those birds are going to explode, and the girl seemed to mind his safety first. She took a step back and spread her cloak with the hand she used to stop Duo, using it a shield for him. Duo was going to say something dignified like 'don't mind me', but he swallowed it back as the girl used her other hand to pull her big cross from behind her back and in one fluid swing she hit all the launching birds with the cross' body, and in the same time she fired several times at the standing statue not minding the smoke and fire from the exploded birds blocking her sight.

The statue-of-man broke into flying birds, dodging whatever came out of the girl's cross, and gathered on another rooftop forming another statue.

Duo swallowed dryly as his mind couldn't register what he was witnessing and didn't know what to do to face the oppression he felt directed at him from that being; if he could call it that.

"Why is it targeting me?"

The girl didn't answer his flat question; she had her big cross at ready in front of her and stood still like a statue herself. The wind of the explosions had dropped her loose hood to fall on her shoulders and Duo could see her blonde head; and half consciously reminded of Quatre's. There was a silent hiss like a snake's sound in the coos the pigeons made, it sent chills to Duo's back that he stiffened; then he realized the pigeons' eyes turned shining red, and without him knowing the rooftops all around them had shining red eyes as well. He never knew being surrounded by (hundreds of) pigeons could be so frightening before.

"Aren't you pushing yourself too much tonight?" a sympathetic voice asked behind the statue-of-man, and its figure broke into scattering flying birds that landed somewhat away from the voice source.

"Come on, children; back to your nests…!" PK clapped his hands twice calling for attention, "Night time should be used for resting, right? Tomorrow's another busy day gathering food and living…!" his clear gentle voice broke the tension in the air, and Duo found he was somewhat calmed by only his presence, even though the Japanese boy was standing quite far away from him. There was a series of waking-coo, as if the pigeons snapped from trance, and then they flew away to different directions at the same time. Duo yelped in surprise as some pigeons seemingly not minding their presence and almost bumping at them in their flights and he had to dodge them frantically while blocking his face with his hands.

And as fast as the pigeons had gathered to surround them, they were fast disappearing as well; leaving a gaping Duo looking like an idiot with some feathers stuck all over him. Duo spat out a couple of feathers from his mouth, and seeing that PK was earnestly chuckling to himself. Duo could be cute sometimes, but he didn't realize it himself.

The girl flapped her black cloak once to cast some feathers that had landed on her being in one brisk motion; fastening her big cross on her back again. "You're late, PK!" it sounded conversational.

"I belief not, D-san; no one's hurt, right?" PK smiled earnestly. The girl only snorted to that, fixing her loose hood back on.

At the time Duo was turning his head around assessing his surroundings, finding only feathers of different colors left everywhere, that when he looked back at front and finding the smiling Japanese face in his private space he yelped and took several steps back. "Are you alright, Maxwell-san?"

Duo's face flushed as he could felt that their noses almost brushed in the closeness before; now he felt PK's innocent smile intimidating more than the other day. He gulped and nodded looking like a defiant child that made the Japanese boy chuckled.

"Now shouldn't be your patrol-night, right?" the girl called D asked, PK turned his smiling face at her and Duo got relieved.

"Hmm….I'm having the task guarding The Attic…!" hearing his innocent tone made Duo stiffened again, he knew the boy was referring to the reflection chamber he was suppose to be in.

A soft snort; "You look _happy_ to me, it's scary, PK!" she commented.

PK lifted his brows above his smiling eyes; "I'm always happy…!"

"Yes, that's what scary…!" The girl then looked at him with a generic face for some time, and Duo knew he was being appraised. She smiled earnestly for a moment, but her whole composure gave Duo the creeps; "My name's Dorothy, Maxwell; we're going to be acquaintances in the future, so, pleased to meet you!"

"Duo…" Duo answered reflexively, "-…is fine..!" he added awkwardly.

"Another 'D'…!" Dorothy commented implying something that Duo didn't catch of.

"A cute Maxwell…" PK commented; Duo felt like he was going to object but didn't voice it.

"Well, I'm going…!" without so much of chit chat Dorothy jumped down to the street. Duo snapped and said "Thank you…!" and ran to the edge of the roof but the girl already disappeared. A cold gush of wind blew, and at the time he just remembered that he was left alone with the always-smiling creepy Japanese boy behind him….who was still smiling.

"Euh…. About this…" Duo reflexively tried to make an excuse to get away; PK cocked his head to the side as if hearing something afar but didn't want to care enough. "I will overlook it since this is your first time, Maxwell-san…" he said softly almost like to himself instead to Duo.

"If you would come back with me to the school ground now…?" PK sounded polite as ever, but Duo felt he was being oppressed that his defiance instinct stirred up. "Or else I would add a few more days to your school-stay and your little brother would be lonely?"

Now that's a threat; Duo's inner alarm went off at the mention of Heero…because…they were Slayers, right?

"A good big-brother should always protect his little-brother, don't you think, Maxwell-san?"

_Now, that's cheap…!_ Duo wanted to retort, but the words couldn't get pass his throat, he just let out a silent hiss.

"So, shall we head back to school?" for once PK's tone sounded conversational that Duo lowered his guard, and just realized his slip when in a blink the smiling Japanese face was already in front of his face, blocking the sight of the moon with his head.

And then all he saw was black.

PK caught Duo's body that fell to his front, for a moment he could feel Heero's presence wafted from the unconscious Maxwell that it made him frown. Turning his face to where he cocked his head earlier PK dropped his smile, the wind brought the smell of smoke to them.

"If you're well connected…shouldn't you be heading that way, Maxwell-san…?" his narrowed black eyes looked icy for the moment.

------------

Aunt Leonore blew a sigh as she entered the door that was opened for her, she gave her coat to the maid-girl at the door, saying her polite thank you and a goodnight; it had been a hard day at her work and she desperately wanted to hit her fluffy bed right now.

"ummm…, Milady?" the maid-girl's hesitant voice called; Aunt Leon knew that it would lead to something she's needed to fulfill, but still it's her _other_ job, so she sighed and resigned herself.

"Yes…, Lynette?" she was very good at remembering people's faces that someone would find her creepy when she was still a child.

Lynette scooted to her in a hunched pose, seemingly afraid that anyone would catch her doing something she wasn't suppose to, "….there's something about Sir Heero that was bothering me, Milady…!" she whispered using the coat in her hands as a shield.

------------

"Heero…? Are you there?" Aunt Leon knocked several times in her worry; she knew herself that the boy was miserable since he couldn't have his brother with him for the time being; but since he was already reserved to the extent that he wouldn't speak a single word even to her, she refrained herself from provoking him to a conversation. And that was probably her error, that she would leave things be instead of trying the risk and taking the burn. That's why she had never hold on to 'friends'.

"Heero? Can you hear me…?!" she rapped at the wooden door. Turning the handle and finding it was unlocked, she hastily got inside the dark room; finding the small bed empty as the light from the bathroom casted on it. She rushed to the bathroom door, turning its handle, "Heer--…" and stopped short as she found it locked from the inside. "Heero?!" now she sounded alarmed; Duo said that since they used the same bathroom from their adjoining rooms they never lock the bathroom door, so if anyone find their bedroom doors locked that means that they may as well were using the bathroom at the time.

"…never lock the bathroom…!" Aunt Leon repeated to herself, then she ran to Duo's room, and was relieved finding it unlocked; got inside and hurried to the bathroom door, praying that Heero missed to lock the other door. She almost squealed when the bathroom door opened, but the cold inside the white tiled bathroom choked her; she almost immediately stopped, and warily stepped inside.

There was a thin mist wafting on the floor, it swirled and dissipated as she moved on it. The curtain of the bathtub was opened covering the wide, almost pool-like tub; and between the slit of the curtain she could see a lock of brown hair in the water.

"Heero, what are you--…" she threw he curtain aside and kneeled down, her reaching out hands lost their speed as she touched the freezing water. No, it wasn't water at first; the maid-girl said she saw Heero brought so many bags of chopped ice with him to his room this late afternoon, right after school. So he poured all the ice into the bathtub and buried himself in it, and gradually the ice had melted, and the water volume from all the melted ice was higher than his head now.

Aunt Leon lifted Heero's submerged head up above the water, already knew that she wouldn't find a pulse as she saw his bluish white skin and his still face. The cuts on his chest were still open and gave an impression that they were still bleeding; the upside-down cross had another short horizontal line above the place where the 'head' should be, as if a place to crucify something that was wore above someone's head; perhaps something like crown… or a halo…

She blindly pulled some towels from the rack; the pile of white towels tumbled down and she spread one on the cold tile, pulling his stiff small body onto it then covered it with another towel. She checked his vital signs and his body condition. Not finding any other wound aside from the cuts on his chest, she dropped one layer of the worry-mask from her face. Pulling out the cross pendant from under her collar, she pressed her thumb onto the pointed sword-shaped cross until it bleed and she applied it to her middle of forehead in one stroke; cupping the sides of Heero's head with her hands and placed her marked forehead on his.

"I am Leonore Oriel-Kyrie Maxwell III, I'm calling out to the Heart that my Blood's(1)-heart couldn't live without…please answer!" her voice held some mighty tone, even though it was a little trembling with emergency.

"I am Leonore Oriel-Kyrie Maxwell III…!!" she almost barked it out when she found there was no link connected; if Heero's gone now, Duo will be devastated when he came back. "I'm calling back the Heart that my Blood's-heart couldn't live without…!! Please come forth of this body…--" saying like it was a dead body she held in her hands made her realized that it was indeed a long dead body she was holding so desperately; that she always hanging on to something after it was too late made her anger at herself gushed out her closed heart.

"COME BACK, LORD YUY…!!" she barked unconsciously digging her fingers into Heero's head hard enough to leave bruise marks.

A wet half-choked sound deep in his throat, then Heero's mouth gushed out some water as he snapped his neck backwards. Aunt Leon straightened her body; and hurriedly pulled his towel wrapped limp body into her arms, putting his head on her left shoulder mumbling some comforting words out of instinct. She didn't dare confronting Heero's eyes at the moment, because she knew what kind of stare the boy was giving her right now; '_why would a Slayer summon him back when he'd resigned himself?_', the suspicion in his eyes tore at her heart without needing to witness it. Thus, she closed her eyes, waited until he seemed to be stabile enough and she moved him to the empty bed.

While putting some clothes on him after she bandaged the open cuts on his chest, she countered his tired dull stare all the time directed at her eyes. '…_.why?_' that stare asked her.

"Duo needs you…!" she whispered as if she was convincing herself. Heero's eyes got even duller, even more dead-looking than a dead person's eyes that she winced openly seeing it; he slowly shook his head denying her words. "He _needs_ you..!!" Aunt Leon gave him the non-debatable tone and sealed the matter with it.

A little voice in her heart regretted that she had pressed the word 'needs' instead of 'you'; it had sounded that she took him as a 'thing' instead of a 'someone'; but she couldn't take it back.

------------

The old clock on the second floor rang twelve times; she half-consciously counted it while she was sitting near Heero's feet. He had gotten somewhat 'alive' enough that he was now sleeping tiredly in the cocoon of blankets she had wrapped him in. The cross-shape shadow from the round window casted upon him, and she'd meant it to be his guarding ward.

A waft of smoke came in from the slits between the cracks on the old windowpane; Aunt Leon frowned at the smell as she stared at a pair of red-shining eyes outside the window. A black statue-of-man was looking fixedly at the sleeping boy on the bed; its body was made of something that sometimes flapped and revealed its form-of-wings.

"I'm not handing him to anyone, especially you…!" Aunt Leon said with a deep voice.

The statue-of-man gazed into the room with red-shining eyes popped out all over its body, and in a high pitched shriek the black body untangled itself into black birds flying backwards gaining enough distance to launch at the small round window. With another inhuman shriek the black birds launched themselves, and Aunt Leon sliced her palm until it bled enough that her blood would be splattered on the windowpane when she swung her hands.

She made a cross of splattered blood and yelled in her mind '_Go back to where you came from…!_'

The launching birds hit the glass one after another with a sickly crunching bones and wet splattering sounds; the windowpane rattled and the whole small room shook and Aunt Leon covered Heero's body with hers waiting the ordeal to end under the rain of dust from the wooden ceilings. When the shaking stopped she looked at the small window and found the glass had been covered completely by black liquid that was dripping down sluggishly. She knew it wasn't blood; the black liquid bubbled out as if something breathing before it died with a loud hiss.

Aunt Leon sighed warily then gathered the sleeping boy closer to her body. "I'm here, Heero…. I won't let them have you…!" she whispered even knowing that it was only herself heard it at the moment.

------------

------------

1. she meant something like _someone of the same blood with mine_ as in "my relative", that in this matter she was speaking of Duo.


	7. seventh day

**Shallow Mist sept 16, 09**

**_Disclaimer_**_: G-boys not saru's (not available to buy anywhere; even though saru might have no money to even try make a bargain over Heero…)_

**_Warning_**_: critical AU, NCS, some weird occurrences…!_

**7. seventh day **_-……and seven deadly sins_

(in this chapter italic is for someone's POV)

_I woke up in the dark, awareness came forth but I couldn't move my stiff body… Not yet, I presumed; I just needed to wait a while until my senses woke up and melted my flesh to be somewhat pliant enough to move again. Something was covering my closed eyelids, I could feel something liquid sliding down from my eyelashes to the sides of my temples; it was warm against my cold skin._

_….I didn't cry._

"Good morning, Heero…"

_I knew that woman's voice._

"Good to have you back…!" _there was a smile in her gentle voice; she sounded relieved._

_A couple of soft knocks sounded from the door, and a girl said; _"Milady, the breakfast is ready…!"_ in a hushed voice._

"Thank you, Lynette; I'll come down soon…"

"Yes, Ma'am. Should I prepare for Sir Heero as well…?"

"I'll do it, it's alright, Lynette…!"_ she dismissed whatever it was the girl about to use as an argument._

"How is…--?"_ the girl whispered implying something._

"The fever's down, thank you for last night!"

"I'm glad nothing serious happened, Milady…!"_ the girl said shyly and walked away. _

_I had a fever? I pulled the washcloth from my face and felt it warm despite the cold morning air._

"How are you feeling?"_ she sounded half hesitated._

_I pulled my neck a little to the side, stared at her for some short seconds; _"…I am very sorry to have troubled you, Aunt Leon…"_ So she had been in this room the whole night…?_

"You can trouble me anytime, Heero… It's part of my obligation to you…"

_Obligation; like you're assigned here to guard me?_

"We're family, right?"

_…not of Blood._

"It's drizzling outside. It's alright if you don't want to go to school today…!" _she took the washcloth from my stiff grip, dipped it into the warm water basin, and dabbed it to my face repeatedly; setting aside some straying locks as she did it._

_Are we playing house…?_

_She smiled gently and did the same with my arms; I guessed that's what a mother would do with her sick child. I guessed we're playing house now…_

_She's of the same line as Duo… so she must liked playing roles on her stage as well._

"I'll get you your breakfast now…!"_ she said rubbing my forehead with her thumb gently._

"I will get down soon…"_ I said carefully._

_There was something in her eyes, something like alert, or a warning in the verge of alertness; something that I usually saw in Duo's eyes when he thought I would do something he wouldn't like._

"Duo is in school…" _I reasoned._

_Aunt Leon didn't move for some heavy moments. After some contemplation, she nodded once and left the room._

_The window was thinly dewy inside; outside the air seemed cold, clear drizzles gave something to be seen in the bleak scene, like a thick layer of clear mist that moving constantly down to the earth; there's something about it touched the vacant-space inside me. I stared the ceilings for some time, waiting for the senses to come back in my feet. I curled my toes and sighed at the sight of the dew beads trickled down the window glass._

_….I could escape this room… but I couldn't escape Duo!_

_Somehow I felt that the World wouldn't let me… so, instead of facing the World, I'd better face Duo in school._

_I closed my eyes. The cuts on my chest ached at the mention of Duo._

_…just something I have to bear, I reminded myself again._

_I got down from the bed and looked down at my bandaged chest; there was a seeping red upside-down cross printed on the white bandage. I frowned; it just wouldn't stop bleeding._

_Thinking about blood usually followed with Duo's image popped out in my head. I hunched down with my right arm across my stinging chest; the World felt heavy, I lost my footing and dropped sitting on the bed again. Gasping out and trying to stay conscious._

_…why is that, if the World wouldn't let me escape Duo, that it would torture me using him? Or was it the very reason why the World let me stayed beside Duo, that's why it didn't let me escape him…? Duo is my sin, even now in this lifetime… Are we sinning together, Duo?_

_You're always the World's own, weren't you, Duo…? Even after we went this far that it still wouldn't let me steal you? I felt really alone now._

"I need some blood…"_ I was barely aware of whispering that out._

_…perhaps Trowa would let me have some of his blood… Quatre wouldn't mind, that thought gave some relief. My body shook like a withering branch and fell on my side, clawing at the soft mattress._

_I'm dying…, I reminded myself; in case my mind betrayed me and forget that I still wanted to be here. 'Here'…in Duo's world…_

------------

"Good morning, Heero…!" _Quatre greeted me with his always shining smile; it's almost like he was saying 'rise and shine!' every time he did it; it gave me some relief as always. I gave him a small slow nod in return, I guessed he always knew that it's not the return of his greeting, but a show of gratefulness that he was there; his smile bloomed like a small sun for that._

"You look tired, did you sleep well last night?" _he tried to make civilized conversation and I just nodded; didn't I sleep REALLY well last night? -my inner-voice mocking me. _

_Looking down at the floor, I realized a thin shadow casted from behind me. I side glanced at Trowa, he gave me a slight nod as his usual greeting; I stared him for some time… wondering where Quatre had left his marks on his slim figure… behind the collar…or under the cuffs…or perhaps on some other private parts where only they both knew._

_Trowa blinked once, his eyes stared back into my eyes, usually he wouldn't do that to other Gold; but he knew I was eyeing him like staring at a food standing behind me, he blinked again, I stared back at the floor and decided to go to the classroom before anyone realized what I was doing while Duo wasn't around… it almost felt like being unfaithful._

_Quatre must have realized what I was doing; he followed me by my side without saying anything else. If it was anything else in the world besides Trowa I was sure he would jump in and offer me before I even ask; he was a too sweet person to be a blood-sucker creature. But I bet they wouldn't call it blood-sucking when it came to the two of them, may be they called it life-sharing, or life-bonding…or whatever I would not use for myself and my doing…_

_I became very aware of the book I used for my reason to come to school today; I said to Aunt Leon that Duo would get dead-bored if he didn't have anything to do in The Attic, so I brought him the book he was reading before we arrived in this town. I didn't mean to lie, that's why I really intended to hand the book to him after school; but the weight of the book felt heavy in my bag… perhaps I should have brought a thinner one instead… it was just for an excuse anyway…_

------------

_The room was bright lit; I heard birds chirping happily outside. I frowned at the bottom of the upper bunk as it blocked the sight of the ceiling above me. It's already past noon…?!_

"Stop pouting and start living, Maxwell…!"_ I heard the flat almost bored comment from my right side; as I saw from the end of my eyes that Wu Fei was lounging on his stomach reading whatever book he pretended to read that was spread on the pillow. And I did just that… pouting some more!_

"…I told you not to get caught, didn't I?"_ he said conversationally; but I got the feeling that he was mocking me. _"Did you aware that PK brought you in a princess-hold all the way here last night?"

"Shut up!"_ I jumped from the bed and escaped to the bathroom. I heard him snickered behind my back; I muttered a curse for that, but it brought out some chuckles from him._

_One…two arteries popping out; I could tell them clearly even from across the room. _"……Maxwell…!"_ there was a growl in the word… but I thought you couldn't growl out the 'L' sound; that's why I kind of hear it like a purring sound… it's kind of sexy, like the sound of a cat growling; with Wu Fei's hair color it might have been a black-ocelot , if not a black Egyptian-cat…that's just my impression of him in my eyes, though._

"Stop walking around naked after bath…!"

_I snapped from my straying minds; and he didn't even bother to spare a glance at me walking around naked, so why would he still be bothered anyway? -my head echoed with so many voices saying their one-objection._

"There's only one towel for me, and you know my hair needs a towel too… or else it would be dripping water anywhere I go and I'm not in the mood to mop the floor right now…!"_ I reasoned; and I had the satisfaction to see his lips thinned to prevent from pouting himself…that thought kind of funny, though…him, Mr. Cocky Hunter…pouting. I half consciously chuckled at my own thought; Wu Fei's eyes narrowed at me, I guessed he could've translated the reason for my chuckling wrong._

"…You do it on purpose…!"_ he accused. I stared back at him; it wasn't wrong, I did intend to tease him knowing he likes to do things orderly. But the dark hue shadowing his eyes kind of enchanting to see; I liked brushing with dangers, it's like shedding a layer of skin, it felt relieving; that's why eventhough I didn't actually intend to brush his wrong side, seeing him showing me more than just his boring unaffectionate face like the usual… it attracted me to the point where I want to tease him physically._

"……--!"_ I half gaped at my own train of thought; that's right… that's why I liked to provoke Heero to open up. Because I knew that Heero was far beyond dangerous, and that he usually didn't show what he felt, and that he somewhat too lazy to even cared for things around him; that when I could see a little dark-fire lit in his bored eyes it made me want to see more, craving even more… not just something that I could see, I wanted something I could touch, something I could feel and own; and it was mine only! It was not necessarily because I wanted to bully Heero at first…!_

"Why are you staring at me like that, Maxwell? It gives me the creeps; stop it… go get clothed!"

_Wu Fei said turning his face from me, hiding his eyes. But… if I wasn't wrong… wasn't he blushing a little? Oh, yeah… perhaps he saw something lit in my eyes and took it wrong. That's right, Wu Fei… I was thinking of Heero; or were you kind of excited awhile back? I chuckled deep in my throat and almost felt my imaginary evil horns sprouted from my head. I could get back on him for being a grouch!_

"What, Wu Fei…?"_ I swayed my hips as I walked to his bed, _"Is my being unclothed bothered you that much?"_ I was wondering whether I could feel my imaginary evil-tail twitching behind me._

_I heard him muttered a low 'shut up' while refusing to look at me and it only triggered my evil side to fire up. _"Hmmm… 'Seemed like you had been kept here for a very long time, hadn't you? Are you 'lonely'…?"_ I purred. This could be fun._

"Maxwelll…! I've picked up your lunch; go eat it!"_ there was a warning in his tone, but he was still refusing to look at me; this was so fun that I started to chuckle._

"Why, aren't you too shy to admit it?"_ I jumped on his back and got very satisfied when he choked on his retort, but his reflex was good that he could half way turn his body to defend himself. I cocked my head to the left a little to dodge his launched chop-hand, the ends of his fingers got the towel wrapped around my head instead and he flinched as his face got slapped by locks of long wet hair; it gave me the opening to catch his flailing arm, and the other one as I turned him onto his back while I pulled myself behind so I could crouch on his stomach. Yep, kittens played like this…_

_I laughed as his face flushed while gritting his teeth, realizing that he got himself pinned down by a naked 'food' when he was supposed to be a Hunter. But the next thing he retorted at me was way out of my expectation._

"…I'm an honorable married man, you _food_!!"_ Somehow it sounded like he was holding back his tears; but with his flushed defiant face it was more like a challenge to do more. But it sure did surprise me; the fact that he's already married…_

"Oh? Are you lonely that you couldn't be with your wife, Wu-chan?"_ I smiled wider; it felt like I got his weakness somehow, if I wasn't wrong._

"Shut up, Maxwell! I won't allow you to speak dishonorable things about my wife…!"

_Yep; he was about to cry, this cocky Mr. Hunter._

"Oww… so it's a wife… What? You're not so happens to be a homophobe, are you, Wu-chan?"_ I laughed innocently while playfully rubbed my lower body that was above his lower body; I was too good at this kind of game._

"Maxwell, you_ imp_…!"_ Wu Fei's face got considerably burnt with a very deep hue of red, with voice hitched and face turned away from mine; he closed his eyes tightly and his eyelids squeezed his tears to glisten at the ends of his black eyelashes. That was unexpected, though; didn't he say he'd lived long enough that my 15-years life span wasn't even a sprout to him?_

"Or are you actually a virgin, Wu-chan?"_ something popped in my head; _"…Oh, right! You're a virgin when it came to guys, right?"_ I smiled victoriously; a little voice in my head said that I should just end it right now, but his reaction was so funny that I couldn't help myself._

"Hrrrmm… but you know what they said… It felt better having an affair with a married person instead of some inexperienced youngsters who don't even know the joy of an affair since they don't have anything to risk for?"_ I purred and brushed my chin on his craned neck he's showing me. He's really defenseless in this kind of thing, or should I say that he's inexperienced to defense himself in this kind of thing? Or was he actually experienced… say, like… being in this kind of letting himself looked like he was actually defenseless…?_

_A dull thump sounded from the door and it surprised me enough that it sent chills down my naked back. I craned my neck behind and saw Heero standing behind the half opened door looking like a bluish frozen dead statue of a boy who had been dead ages ago in the freezer; there was a book lying on the floor in front of his feet._

_…Wu Fei didn't lock the door…! My mind was screaming like a banshee crying out someone's death. _

"You didn't lock the door…!"_ I was too stunned to notice that I've spoken that out. Wu Fei pushed my shoulders up as he realized that I somehow froze, but I guessed he might have thought that it was someone like attendants or PK that was opening the door and not Heero; he propped his body with an elbow and froze too as he saw it was Heero standing there._

_I knew someone like Heero would misunderstood the caught looks on both my face and Wu Fei's; he took a reflexive step back, and with a very small and trembling voice he said _"…I'm sorry for being here…"._ And then he banged both layers of the door panels closed and I could hear him running desperately._

"Wa--…HEEROO…!!"_ I instantly jumped from the bed but the towel entangled my feet; Wu Fei's hand caught my hand in my fall and he actually tossed me to the bed while he jumped out of it and ran to the doors._

"Get clothed and STAY…!!"_ he barked; but despite his order he still locked the outer steel-door from the outside._

"…no…no, Heero… it was just a game…!"_ I heard myself muttering that over and over as if hearing someone else's voice; I could have tried to perhaps jump out of the window to run after him but my body was shaking with unbearable cold. Now that I realized, it was drizzling outside… funny, I thought it was a sunshiny hot weather before Heero came…_

------------

Wu Fei muttered a curse under his breath, he'd known that he felt something amiss when he woke up this morning, and it's not just because PK had smiled him to almost regretting letting Duo went out last night. He should have paid more attention to his Hunter's hunches; he'd realized that this living in privilege life had made them rusted. He ran along the balcony, knowing Heero would be extremely sensitive about being chased from behind in this situation; despite he knew that boy's condition, he wouldn't want to face a desperate Gold face to face; especially since he didn't intend to fight that self-destructible-Gold who could launch at him with all his might.

He caught up with Heero's frantic run; they were running alongside the corridor separated by the lining low glassless-windows and pillars, their lengthened shadows on the floor were appearing like they were having a match of their own through the shadows of the pillars. He could see that the boy was not alright; especially with him being a Gold when he could easily catch up to him without really pushing the effort. He should call his name, but he doubted Heero would hear his calling; if ever, that would just make the boy try to escape him even more. Wu Fei thought that he just had to grab him at the end of the corridor, when he slowed down to descent the stairs.

10 more meters… 5 meters… 2… Just as Wu Fei braced himself to make the launch at the boy, a Blonde head suddenly came out from the void of the staircase; Heero bumped himself to a firm body while Wu Fei, wideeyed at who it was, decided to plunge himself off the balcony at the end of his way.

Heero gasped as a somewhat soft wall stopped him, he got his vision darkened with the denial to see what he'd witnessed in The Attic that he wasn't about to care whatever things he was going to collide himself to. Perhaps he was trying to commit suicide again, eventhough knowing he wouldn't die successfully. A pair of strong big hands caught his back and pressed him to that soft wall; he pushed frantically trying to break free and scream, but only managed a broken croak out.

"It's alright…! Hey, calm down…!" a baritone voice said and Heero suddenly slumped as he lost his leftover strength.

------------

"How's he…?! Where's Heero?" Duo's wide worried eyes made Wu Fei flinched and he decided to turn his face at the door while locking it. "Wu Fei…?!" Wu Fei banged his head back at the wooden door when he turned around and found Duo's face only several millimeters away from his.

"You got Heero, right, Wu Fei?!" Duo seized his collar and frantically twisted it in his grips, his shocked eyes missed to see some scattered pine leaves stuck on the somewhat damp fabric. Wu Fei pulled his wrists loose before Duo managed to choke him, knowing that he was doing it unconsciously. Backing Duo slowly to sit on his lower bunk bed that was in front of the door, pulling the chair to sit in front of him in case he'd jumped again; Wu Fei stared Duo in the eyes openly, and sighed.

"I'm sorry, there's someone got to him first before I managed to--…" Wu Fei paused as he pushed Duo's shoulders down; aware of how much strength he'd used to match Duo's. "--get to him… but he's alright now, Duo!"

"NO!! How could he be alright?! He misunderstood…! He's not alright, Wu Fei…!!" Duo shook his head frantically that Wu Fei had to catch his head to calm him.

"He's with someone that can be trusted, especially by your kind… So it's alright for the time being! He's with the school's doctor…"

"…--!!" Duo was about to yell something else while getting up, but Wu Fei stood and pushed his shoulders down; until then he'd never realized that Wu Fei had enough strength to actually threaten him.

"PK won't overlook it if you get out of this room again, Duo…!" Wu Fei had a very serious face that it calmed Duo's frantic for a moment. "You still want to risk it?"

Duo was stunned by his calm question, but he nodded frantically as his mind deciphered the offer he got.

Wu Fei gazed deeply into his wide expecting wet eyes, he somewhat satisfied with what he found there… or more like gave in; he nodded once. "Don't do anything rashly, alright, Duo…?!" Duo's head nodded repeatedly and Wu Fei let his shoulders go.

"You know the bathroom window is never locked…" Duo jumped and ran to the bathroom before Wu Fei even finished his sentence. When the bathroom door was closed, Wu Fei dropped himself sitting on the bed; his hunch said that he would regret this, but somehow he was weak against Duo's eyes. No… not just that boy's eyes; perhaps he had pitied them ever since the first time he saw them kissing on the balcony. He sighed deeply, closing his eyes; there was a sudden thumping sound followed by a scratching sound and the sound of the window sash closed silently by itself.

"Ugh…" he moaned and massaged his temples; he knew Duo had fallen from the window.

------------

Duo closed his eyes tightly, reflexively imagining himself doing some acrobatic turns in his way down and landed on his feet safely on the wet grassy ground. There was no dull heavy sound of his body landed back first on the ground as his rational mind expected when it's sober enough from his panic; or the crunching sound when his neck broke and his head splattered on the ground when he landed head first. Slowly he opened an eye, realizing that he was no longer falling; when he open both eyes widely he recognized the wall he was facing, and that he was actually on his feet exactly just as he pictured in his mind before.

Duo blinked, he decided he didn't really want to know how he'd done it and ran in search for his Heero.

He had never met the school doctor, so he didn't know what kind of a person he or she was; his paranoid minds(1) always had the worst of things he could associate with people and what they could do to them, to his Heero. A doctor, with a technically living dead-body in hand was not alright…! _Was Wu Fei blind?!_

The school had one infirmary in each building; Duo followed his instinct and went to the direction of the infirmary on the ground level of that building without actually remembering the map. He thought, there's no way that Heero would trust a stranger doctor and stay around, moreover when he's in shock; it was more likely he would try to get away from that person and take cover in some sheltered place where he wouldn't be found by others. Duo had spotted the place accidentally last night. Such a place between that place and the infirmary would be the crumbled ex-warehouse he saw hidden in the nook of the hillside land behind this building, it was originally underground but the soil covering the wall had crumbled or collapse in perhaps a landslide a long time ago; it seemed that it was unused anymore and the scarps at its sides was perfect to hide it.

------------

_I ran as fast as I could; my body was getting stiff and became powerless more and more._

_I was in dire need of blood, I realized it gravely._

_I need blood…, Duo…! _

_A sudden bright light of the sun hit my darkened vision; I didn't realize that I've reached the end of the corridor again. I gasped and crossed my arms before my face, at the same time I collided again with another someone. We both tumbled down the wet ground and the momentum had sent us rolling a couple of times in a tangle. I was thinly aware of the drizzling pour hitting my body; more than that, there was someone lying beside me, and a hand wrapped around my body catching my fall. I had to get up and run--…_

"…Heero!" _that shrilled voice was very familiar to my ears. I opened my eyes in a snap; gravely aware of whom it was I collided to. The sky was grim, the pouring water was not enough to be called a rain; but I remembered of the cold that had frozen my entire being. The sight of those wide violet eyes hurt by worry and anxiety._

_I didn't fully aware of it, but it seemed that I had pushed Duo and ran away from him._

"Heero, wait…!!" _My ears were ringing by frantic fear, but I could still hear him calling my name behind me._

"HEEROOO…!!" _There's the ultimatum…! Duo's going to kill me this time!_

"Heero, please!"

_'NO! I really am in bad condition, Duo… if you do what I think you're going to do with my body, I won't survive it!' a voice in my head said frantically._

_…I needed blood… if only Trowa was close by…_

------------

_Heero let out a breathless yelp when I pounced on him, he fought me with his flailing hands while closing his eyes as if he'd never wanted to see me again, and he managed an opening for him to escape again. He awkwardly slipped from my arms and lost his ground when he reached the open crevice in the ground. I was very aware of the fear of him getting hurt from the fall, on the base of the crevice scattered raw rocks and splinters and shards of glass._

"Heero…!" _I cried out his name again, my voice was hitched with worry that I didn't recognize it myself at the time. Pulled myself to the edge of the crevice I found that there was no one on the base of it… no Heero!_

_I didn't remember how I got inside the crumbled wall of the warehouse, but somehow I had pounced on Heero's body again._

"NO!! …let go, Duo!!" _he was screaming fearfully at me, trying to pull his hand from my grip._

_Tears._

_Heero's crying._

_My Heero's crying…!_

"You misunderstood!" _I pinned him down with my body and caught his neck with my other hand, I didn't want him to squirm about and hurt himself on anything scattered on the floor._

"It was just a game…! I never did it with anyone; I would NEVER!!" _I let his neck go and caught his other flailing arm and pinned them down at either sides of his head._

"NOO…!!" _Heero arched his body and squirmed harder to break free from my hold, his voice was broken but he was screaming anyway._

"I can proof it, Heero! Listen to me…!!"

"NO!! Let go, Duo! I don't want to…!!" _he cried even harder._

"I'LL PROOF IT, HEERO!!" _I screamed harder._

"Nooo…!! Stop it, Duo!!" _If he would just stop saying 'no'…!_

"Duo, STOOOP!" _his cries had gotten more desperate; I had gotten more desperate to make him understand._

_"Stop, Duo! Please…!!" he pushed and kicked and did anything else besides biting me. I had to shut him up by kissing him more than one time until he stopped screaming 'no'. Heero would know it if I had been defiled by any other creature, right? He would know because he's my Initiator, right? And he could kill me as he pleased if he thought that I've no longer worthy as his inferior anymore after this, right?_

_Right, Heero? After this we could go back to what it used to be between us; there's no problem with 'us'…! There's no need for you to be that fearful of me, wasn't it, Heero? It's still the same Duo, Heero…!_

"I love you…!"

"I love you so much, Heero…"_ Heero had stopped screaming and squirming; he must have understood me again. He understood that he's the only one for me; right, Heero?_

_So I kissed him over and over, on every part of him I could reach while holding him._

------------

_The downpour had become heavier that it drowned out the sounds from outside; from my view I could distinct every single drop lurching down onto the earth, every sound of the splash of every waterdrop hitting the ground. But they didn't drown the voice of Duo's saying his love to me over and over; despite how silent his whispered words sounded._

_I didn't need to look down to see what he's doing down on the floor, yet I could see everywhere without even had to open my eyes; that's right, currently I was shutting them as tightly as I could. I didn't want to see Duo's face above mine right now… That's why…if I could still see everything even more clearly like this meant… that this was my Sight's point of view…_

_Oh, yes… I've forgotten that I could do something like this; I was currently being loved by Duo… so there shouldn't be any reason for me to open my Sight, should it? It was not a gravely situation where I was in dire need to call out to my Instinct of Existence, was it? _

_……but… such a pitiful creature you are, Me…! Being the creature of what you are… being done as you are now… being pitied even by your own Sight! _

_Then… what was I supposed to do now outside myself…?_

_Oh… that's right. I should call Trowa here…!_

_There was a loud thunder deafening my ears, I could stop hearing Duo's labored breaths for some time, I could stop hearing my pained gasps for some time. My vision turned pitch black; perhaps even my Sight was disgusted enough seeing what I had become and decided to leave me…_

_I remembered feeling the mental pain from that thought; I heard a pained whimper coming out my mouth, and my arm reached out for something I could cling to in the darkness. My fingers caught some damp locks, and I gripped them tightly eventhough I felt my nails broke the skin of my palm…at the time, it felt as if I caught the scattered angel's wing in my hand._

_I have missed it so much that I felt like dying…_

_ I have missed those scattered wings so much…!_

------------

_Heero's gotten so still under me; his whole body was shivering, so I thought that it was rare for him to feel the cold of only a rainy weather to this extent. At least he'd stopped saying 'no' now… Of course you wouldn't complain anymore, right Heero? It's still the same Duo who loved you._

_I held him to warm his body with mine, our clothes were damp from our little struggle on the wet grassy ground before; but since he had his uniform on, it was his jacket that was damp and his shirt was somewhat still dry. I didn't take it off, so that he wouldn't get hurt lying on his back on the messy floor. I held him tightly and caressed his head; he liked it when I do that._

_His hand hadn't let go my hair he'd gripped for some time. I knew Heero needed me… That's all I need to know…I wouldn't let him go as long as he needed me._

------------

The door to the warehouse banged open with such a force, the rusty chain rattled as it was broken in pieces; and Duo, still caught in his relief, could only get to his knees, pulling Heero's shivering body in his tight embrace. There was a black shadow shooting at his direction, and Duo widened his eyes when that shadow formed an open palm right before his face and got his head down as he fell on his back. He felt the pain behind his head as it hit the floor; reflexively he grabbed the wrist of the hand that was holding his head. He couldn't see anything as that hand covered his eyes, only feeling the pain from the fingers clawing at his skull as if they were going to crush it.

He could only let out a small choked whimper as his senses besides the ones in his head got numb and he was barely aware that the weight of Heero's body had left him.

"Trowa, stop! You don't have to kill him…!!" there was a frantic yell sounded near him.

_Trowa…?! Why would Trowa try to kill me…?_ His mind could only register the pain at the moment.

The fingers pressed harder for a second that Duo's body jerked by the sensation of having his skull almost broken apart, but that hand casted his head to the floor after lifting it up for about half a meter high, as if casting down a trash. Duo wheezed after his head hit the floor, his eyes were dulled by the pain and he tried vainly to get up. After some failed attempts he could only manage to get on his side and propped his body with both hands.

Quatre frowned at Duo's delirious stare when his eyes found Heero was being embraced in his hands; Duo tried to get up and launch at the kneeling blond.

"Trowa…!" Quatre called in alert, and only then Duo's eyes registered Trowa's figure standing between him and Quatre who was currently holding his Heero on his laps; with right hand extended to his side and claw opened ready to give him the deadly blow if it was up to him. Duo pulled back some of his anger when he realized he was about to be ended right then and there if not for Quatre's voice deciding not to.

Quatre had put Heero's pants back on and was wrapping his shivering body with Trowa's uniform jacket; it looked very oversized on his small body. Heero then moaned something, and he blindly reached out for Trowa.

Trowa stared Duo down for some more time; he never knew that stoic boy could make such a menacing face just by scowling. After somewhat snapping his head disgustedly from the sight of him, Trowa turned around and kneeled down; Heero's hands blindly found him and weakly pulled himself closer to the tall boy's body eventhough he was still in Quatre's arms. Quatre let him go and he gathered the rest of Heero's clothes from the floor. Trowa gently held him and stood up; at the time there was another bright lightning followed by a loud thunder, and Duo saw Heero's glazed grey eyes were wide open but seeing nothing.

Only that time, Duo felt like he was struck by that lightning…

Then they left him alone on the floor.

------------

Duo followed where his feet brought him to without thinking it, his numb mind couldn't register the directions or surroundings. He was somewhat aware that he had to wear his clothes back on as he was topless before; he hadn't braided his hair even since the time he was at The Attic, he only had it tied in a loose tail and the band had come off when he was struggling with Heero. His senses somehow registered that there was some of Heero's blood on it and he held it to his lips as if kissing it; all the way until he reached the infirmary door.

He watched his hand opened the door as if it was someone else's hand doing it for him, finding the door was unlocked, he stepped in somewhat half consciously. The infirmary for such a large school as their school was more looked like a hospital ward, with eight beds set in four pairs of lining beds facing each other in the spacious room. Duo saw Heero was lying on the second bed from the door at the right row; Trowa was at the bed's rightside while Quatre was on its left side, being nearer to the door with only another empty bed separating him and Duo on the doorway. They were already staring at the door as if expecting him to come in before he opened it.

Duo blinked his numb mind to wake; Heero was lying still with his eyes closed, his chest was heavily bandaged as he could see it from his open unbuttoned new shirt under the blanket. Trowa's left hand was apparently holding Heero's right hand through the thick blanket. Quatre, at the time, was looking somewhat hostile gazing at Duo as if he was eyeing an enemy. A very little part of Duo's mind whispered that he deserved it, but a much larger part of his mind declared it that it was all his right, what he'd just done to Heero, and it was his alone; because Heero was his.

"Give back Heero…!" Duo said flatly, staring back at Quatre without showing any feeling on his face or eyes.

"He's not well--"

"He's mine!" Duo cut Quatre's reason before he even registered what the blond boy told him.

Quatre frowned, there was a dark light flashed in his pale blue eyes. Duo found that the light was alluring in a hostile way, but some raw part in his dark side liked it, almost wanting to see it more.

"……uhh…" Heero moaned with distorted face as if he was in pain; he craned his neck to Trowa's side like he was trying to avoid Duo; and that got Duo's attention more than anything.

"…I'm here, Heero; I'll take you back with me!" Duo said flatly.

"…--ack…" Heero's body jerked with a surprised gasp, even with his eyes closed and seemingly unconscious; it was as if he was being tortured by a very painful nightmare. A little voice in Duo's mind pointed that Heero had eaten too much of his nightmares so that he could sleep peacefully for some nights, but Duo decided to ignore it.

Trowa tried to calm Heero down when he's beginning to trash weakly, and jerkily using his hands to somewhat looking like he was going to rip the bandages from his chest, as if his wound was burning. "I'm here…" the stoic boy said silently, touching Heero's face and hand and managed to calm his trashing to some extent. Duo heard Trowa's voice for the first time, he hated to admit it but it was the calming kind of voice, and he had repeated what he'd just told Heero before; and the fact that their voices got the opposite reaction from Heero ignited him.

Duo didn't really conscious of what he's doing right now, he just wanted to get his Heero right away, and as he yelled; "I'm taking him back!!" and launched himself, he didn't really understand why he could jump that high, or to such distant. But he was really aware when he landed on Heero's bed crouching, feeling that his hands were almost touching Heero's feet under the blanket.

"……AAAAHHH!!!" Heero's sudden scream surprised Duo for a second, and the fact that he just pulled his feet to balled himself to Trowa's side avoiding contact with Duo; but before Duo could yell something again he got his neck already seized in Quatre's grip.

Duo stilled.

Heero trashed some more, and actually choked out his gasps and wheezed painfully; unconsciously clawing at Trowa's hand to make it enter his gasping open mouth.

Duo froze at that, his eyes widened when he actually realized what Heero was trying to do.

"…He's starving enough that anyone's blood could suffice right now." Trowa's calm voice made it sounded conversationally when Heero's mouth closed on his left wrist. "You starved him to this extent, Duo?"

All heat of rage left Duo as he heard what Trowa said last, his crouching knees gave up and he fell behind sitting on the bed, currently forgetting Quatre's hand still holding his neck.

"…-……-… I……" Duo tried a few times but he got no strength to even move his lips anymore, eventhough his mind rejecting to register what Trowa had just accused of him.

Hearing only, and witnessing while hearing was far different in weight; added to the realization that he had never realized it himself, and he had some strangers he just met to shove the words in his mouth was so painful. Duo's wide eyes slowly got wet. He felt something inside him broken, he knew it wasn't his heart but it was still painful, and he didn't want to admit the pain he felt for it.

Trowa's eyes ignored him, staring at Quatre's for a couple of seconds; and after Quatre nodded his permission, Trowa pushed two fingers of his right hand into Heero's mouth to release his wrist. Heero's body jerked again once and suckled at the fingers, his clawed hands had gone limp and lied in front of his face; Duo unconsciously let out a whimper feeling something inside him starting to burn again at the sight. Trowa used his right thumb to slit his left wrist under Heero's chin, and Duo realized what he was going to do.

"YOU WOULD NOT FEED HIM YOUR BLOOD IN FRONT OF MEE--…!!" he jerked and tried to launch at Trowa but Quatre's fingers dug into his neck and pushed him back.

"I could so much break your neck and feed him your dying blood while you're still not dead, Duo…!!" Quatre hissed in his right ear, and Duo stilled himself back, gritting his teeth as he saw Trowa used the fingers in Heero's mouth to pry it open gently and dripped some of his blood inside.

Duo let out some hitched pained breaths, and he didn't realize himself when he started to whimper. All he could think of was if Heero had someone to feed on then he wouldn't be needed anymore. And that thought actually scared him to death.

"…..-cck…" a pained wheez, "……pleassse…?"

Duo's small voice might have caught the pair off guard for they stared at his face. "……don't… take him from me…please…?" and he was desperate enough to cry. The pair might have thought of him as a sadistic person who never really cared for Heero's wellbeing except when it came down to lust, he couldn't really blame them for thinking of him that way.

"Duo…" Quatre was weak to tears and pleas, so he loosened his hold on Duo's neck a little. Duo whimpered some more when he felt that his airway was working again.

"Heero…-" a wet whimper, "…Heero, you can bleed me to death if that will keep you with me…" And he clawed at his left wrist after that.

"See…?" another whimper, "…I always offer myself to you… you just wouldn't take enough…what's wrong with blooood…?!" and he desperately cried that Quatre decided to let him go, the blond boy had a caught look on his face when he heard Duo's words.

"…WHAT'S WRONG WITH MY BLOOD, HEERO…?!" Duo pulled the blanket and gripped it twisted in a bundle in his hands, not caring for his blood wetting the white cloth and his laps.

As if answering Duo's cry Heero suddenly choked out Trowa's blood that managed to get down his throat, like a drowned person threw out the water from his lungs. After some weak coughs, Heero's hand pushed Trowa's hands onto the pillow in front of his face, he was gasping into consciousness. "…Du…o…"

Hearing his name came out from Heero's mouth made Duo jerked into smile with hope; but the next word came like a sword into his heart. "…-help…." And Heero was trying to squirm his way from him and balled himself more into Trowa's embrace. It was as if he was saying something like 'Duo is here, help me!'

"Heero…what…?" Duo asked in perplex.

Heero seemed to be conscious enough to try to climb Trowa's body into his embrace, but he could only lean his upper body on Trowa's before he lost his leftover strength. "…Duo…!" A pained whimper, "…-elp…"

Duo only stared in bewilderment, he couldn't understand Heero's action; he couldn't even think a reason of why Heero did it. He felt Trowa's eyes burnt on him, and Quatre's hand somehow had turned from being adversative to touching his right upper arm in a calming way; but it was Trowa's hands that were embracing his Heero, and it was Trowa's protection that his Heero was seeking for. And it was his name that Heero said with fear… "When…have you stopped…needing me, Heero…?"

Then Duo snapped, screaming something unintelligible he tried to jump at Heero's body, perhaps ripping Trowa's hands off while he was at it, a little vision pictured behind his darkened sight.

"DUO, CALM DOWN…!!" that was the first time he heard the polite Quatre to yell, but it didn't enter his mind; feeling Quatre's hands trying to pull him back only made him more desperate to take Heero back.

"Duo, stop it!! There has to be reasons…-!"

"I'll take it from here…!" a calm smiling voice heard from behind him and Duo suddenly had an almighty kind of hand plastered at his forehead and pulled his head back gently but firmly to rest on someone's chest. He was shocked enough realizing that all his panic and hysterical fit stopped right away as if he heard a 'Cut!' or 'That's a wrap!' in a shooting site, or may be someone just pressed his 'stop' button; that fact actually frightened him that his body listened to someone else's order that he couldn't have the control of himself; who wouldn't?

"…PK!" Quatre muttered with alert staring at the smiling Japanese boy behind Duo.

"Wahh…you just couldn't stay in a place for once, could you, Maxwell-san?" PK smiled widely, it seemed he was more excited than being angry.

Quatre frowned, "You seemed happy, PK! It's creepy…!"

The Japanese doll chuckled, "I get to extend Maxwell-san's stay for several more days; didn't I say so, Maxwell-san?" Duo moaned his objection; his breathing was still hard and labored but he didn't move. And didn't that smiling PK had threatened Heero last night? His mind started to work even just slightly.

In Trowa's embrace, Heero had calmed down too; or more like stilled.

"Shall we go back to The Attic, or would you prefer to spend your stay in my dorm room, Maxwell-san?"

Quatre stared at him being literally plastered on PK's front, Trowa stared at PK behind him; there was something clicked in their minds and Duo could see it in their eyes. It's terrifying when he couldn't understand what it was other thinking about him being in the situation where he had no control of.

"Just to make sure that you reflect on things you should be reflecting for, Maxwell-san…"

"…nggh…" Duo's breathing had calmed down, and his eyes seemed like he was questioning the situation in perplex.

"Your little brother might be sent by the Doctor to the school's hospital for the night, he seemed to be in a not so well condition since yesterday. Or … was it since the other day before that…?"

Duo's mind cursed, the Japanese doll could make threats without sounding like doing it, and with an innocent smile too, even more innocent-looking than Quatre's smile.

"So, we'll take our leaves, gentlemen; be sure to inform the Doctor about the hospital stay, please?" PK pulled Duo down from the bed; Duo stood on his feet and PK's hand slid down to his upper arm. They walked to the door and Duo only managed a sideglance at Heero from the end of his eyes before the door of the infirmary shut behind his back.

Quatre stared at the shut door for several breaths span; he frowned, there was remorse in his eyes. "He's enjoying it…that PK!"

"Let's just hope that he wouldn't be on the Maxwells' side…" Trowa commented, loosening his embrace when he realized that Heero had returned to sleeping soundly, or perhaps unconscious.

"We'll see…" Quatre lost his frown and looked subdued. "If the Maxwells decided to…" he paused and unconsciously gritted his teeth, not wanting to say of his thought. "You think we should take sides, Trowa?" the question was spoken in such a childish tone of distress that Trowa forced himself to smile at his angelic Gold.

Quatre realized what he's doing and the fact that it was to cheer him up; he chuckled at himself, for ever needing such a childish insurance in such a non-childish matter.

"Don't force it, Trowa; I love your sincere smile, you know that…"

------------

PK led the way through the empty corridors, the chill from the cold sounds of their heels walking on the floor reminded him the first day they entered this school; now he knew what Heero's been trying to hide that day. This place was a slaughter house, wasn't it?

It was still school time so everyone should be in classes. Duo realized that fact and sideglanced at his shepherd still seizing him on his upper arm gently but absolutely; why didn't this boy in class….more over, Quatre and Trowa should have been in class too, right?

"Do you feel something broken inside, Maxwell-san?" PK's quiet voice stunned Duo and it took him several seconds to catch that he was being asked a question.

"…what?" Duo stared the Japanese boy's face; his long straight black hair seemed fluttering in invisible breeze as he walked.

"Back then when _Ottoto-san_ seek someone else's arms to protect him…" his black eyes were looking straight ahead into the long empty flashy corridor; their footstep sounds told Duo how much time he'd used to decipher those words.

"You were watching the whole time…? Were you following me?!" Duo's voice held an accusatory tone, but he couldn't get mad when PK's hand still holding his upper arm.

"No… I just so happen to be heading to the infirmary when you were debating…" PK made it sounded trivially conversational. _Debating?_ Duo's inner voice asked his stunned mind; _they were actually claiming the right of whose blood they were going to feed Heero with and it sounded only 'debating' for him?_ Between the static Duo somehow became aware that there was another 'voice of mind' inside his numb mind.

"That's your Pride broken, Maxwell-san…"

"…Huh…?" he was actually sighing himself back to awareness again, but it came out short as if he was out of breath; perhaps since he was somehow out of mind as well.

"Do you know why some particular people look down to your _kin_ as blasphemy?"

That question shook Duo's mind to alert. He widened his eyes, knowing what he was actually questioned of. "You're a Slayer…!" Duo accused.

PK smiled to himself, "After what I did last night you still have to confirm that?"

"…are you?!"

"I'm a dove, Maxwell-san. It means I'm a pacifist and won't take sides…" he glanced at Duo's alert eyes and there was something flashed in his black gems of eyes, it gave Duo a shiver but he refused to let it showed.

"The birds last night were also…-"

"It's figuratively, Maxwell-san." PK sounded like he was amused in his chuckles.

"…but they listened to you!"

"Hmm…yes. Even _you_ listen to me, don't you, Maxwell-san?"

Duo cursed in his heart, he didn't expect that coming while he should have been aware of the situation he was in.

"Do you know what Pride is, Maxwell-san?"

"Mankind has pride…" he tried to retort since he was beginning to hate how his name coming out repeatedly from the Japanese boy's mouth; he's always had to remind him that he was a Maxwell over and over.

"Um-hmm. Sinners have Pride…"

Duo's brows twitched at that.

"…and Wrath, too." PK continued.

Duo snickered, "You're saying you never got mad…?"

"I have it under control, Maxwell-san. So do my desires…"

Duo chuckled low in his throat. "Are you saying that I'm a prideful abominable covetous kind of creature, PK?"

"I'd say you should know about your Greed as well…"

"Hah?! What? Shouldn't you suppose to say there's a limit to my greed as well, instead…?"

"I would rather say you should put a limit to your lecherous hunger, instead…"

Duo felt something snapped in his head and he wasn't really aware that he had PK's neck in his free hand between his own body and the wall, or how it'd happened.

"Are we heading towards something, Maxwell-san?" the Japanese boy seemed to be unconcerned of the pressure on his windpipe eventhough Duo felt like his hand was almost breaking the small neck.

"You're going to your grave…!" Duo's whisper was shaky by anger. But the black gems staring back at his eyes were calm as ever.

"Right. You feel too lazy, and always choose the easy way, don't you, Maxwell-san?"

Duo put more pressure and lifted PK's petite body from the floor; the boy sure had small and slimmer figure than average boys around their age but he wouldn't thought that he was so light.

"Do you count everything of what I've asked you so far…? Maxwell-san…?"

A cold white hand suddenly touched his cheek and Duo flinched; PK still had a smile on his face, and the black hair cupping his face was making his skin color seemed even whiter. The black thick eyelashes drooped a little, and Duo felt that shiver again running down his back.

"You are the embodiment of the seven-deadly-sins…but why aren't you dead yet…?"

Duo gasped, the words whispered gently were like a lightning charge to his mind. Letting go of the neck he was gripping and broke free from PK's hand, he took a few steps back away from the smiling boy.

"…Isn't it unfair that the rest of mankind gets damnation while your kinds get immortal live for committing those sins…?"

"From the way I see it, you're enjoying it too much that it wouldn't be a curse anymore than it should have been… that living as you pleased and do anything you want and take whatever you like, forever, like that…, right? …Maxwell-san?"

Duo stared at the calm smiling face as if it had turned to a surreal picture of a face, he didn't want to hear more of it but his body felt numb again.

"Well, initially people won't be cursed an immortal live for committing those sins, even as wicked as they could be… but what makes your kind so special to get to enjoy such curse, Duo? You and your little '_brother_'? …and the rest of your _kind_…?"

The tolls to the changing period of class sounded like a life safer; Duo's shoulders slumped at the sounds and he could breathe again, perhaps PK was loosening his 'hold' over him. There were students coming out of the lining doors along the corridors, and the rush seemed to unconsciously avoid them as they passed as if both of them were parts of the school ground and wall.

"The Colors stay out of this…!" PK said suddenly stood in front of Duo.

"…you said you don't take sides…"

"It's my job to keep them oblivious about _you_…and _them_…"

"…'them'… Slayers?" Duo gritted out.

PK lifted one shoulder. "If I don't have anything to do, I might think of doing something else like what the _others_ do…"

"So…you don't like me, but you won't kill me?" Duo smirked hiding his anxiety. PK actually lost his smile at that, he stared Duo with a serene almost stony face.

"You won't kill me, but I'm still a cursed sinner, hu?!" Duo snickered.

"Shall we go back to The Attic, Maxwell-san?"

The students had significantly disappeared from the corridor, and Duo was beginning to feel the rush to flee the not-smiling Japanese boy before him. "You can condemn me, but you let Heero stay OUT OF THIS…!!" Duo yelled at the end of his sentence, and knowing that currently he was invisible to the other students' eyes, he ran to the direction of the infirmary; aware that PK didn't run after him. But when he took the turn, hoping he'd see the infirmary sign only a couple of doors away from the junction, he was perplexed as he found himself facing PK just as the way he had left him behind. At first he thought that the boy had outrun him and cut his run on the junction, but when he looked around, he found he was still standing on the spot before he'd started running away.

Duo overcame his surprise immediately, thinking that the boy had to have some skills to be the President; and gritting his teeth, he turned to his right to take another run to the infirmary again. But PK's indifferent face once again blocked his sight, along with the sight of the corridor wall behind his back; as if Duo didn't turn at all. Duo tried to turn to his left and found himself facing the President and the same corridor wall again; his mind started to think that it was _the world_ following his move.

"……you…!" Duo blew his breath and hissed out.

"I am the school, Maxwell-san…" PK said devoid of emotion and sounded inhumanely, almost doll-like. He took Duo's upper arm again and Duo jerked back but knew he couldn't escape the boy. Perhaps that's the very reason why Wu Fei didn't escape the school ground.

PK suddenly smiled back to live, "…or would you prefer my room to The Attic, instead?"

Duo gripped the side of his pants tremblingly. "…do as you like!" he hissed; and his feet followed PK's calm steps walking on the empty corridor continuing their way.

"But you would feel better with Wu Fei-kun's company, right?"

Duo sideglanced at the smiling boy; so he called Wu Fei in a much familiar way, considering how long they'd met each other on a daily basis, perhaps it's only natural.

Behind his back, he was very aware of the lengthened distance between him and his Heero, but he couldn't do anything about it.

------------

Wu Fei was waiting for them in front of The Attic; he was resting to the wall next to the door panel with his hands crossed on his chest, with eyes closed and a serene face. Perhaps he was waiting for his share of consequence as well that Duo felt a little pang of guilt for it; he shouldn't have dragged Wu Fei into his mess, they were strangers in the first place. They only had become acquaintances for only a couple of days, anyway; they were not even roommates.

PK pleased Duo to get inside the room; by the time they got there he had already lost his spite so he didn't object the Japanese boy's words. Wu Fei gazed at PK for several long seconds after Duo entered the room; from the way he smiled his peaceful smile Wu Fei knew the Japanese boy had shown Duo his nature, although perhaps not much, if he'd shown '_himself_' to the Maxwell boy then he wouldn't have walked Duo to that place.

"Wu Fei-kun…" the smile was somewhat more cheerful than usual.

"…did he do something forbidden?" Wu Fei asked ignoring the greeting.

"Hmm…you know what _you_ did, Wu Fei-kun!" the black gems staring at him was so clear, but Wu Fei didn't care either way.

"Did _you_, Kahlua?"

PK chuckled, "Straight to the point as ever, Wu Fei-kun…"

"Did you?" Wu Fei repeated with less pressure.

PK stared him for some more seconds, "Maxwell-san will have three more days added to his period, please guide him well this time, Mr. Chang…!"

"………" Wu Fei frowned but he kept his tongue to himself.

"And… You would also have to attend classes from now on, Mr. Chang; I'll be expecting to see you there after Maxwell-san's period is over. Thank you." With that PK turned his body and started to walk away.

"…And his brother?"

PK stopped, "……Ottoto-san is not of your concern, Mr. Chang!" it was said just as softly but Wu Fei knew he'd been warned; and since he had already gotten one of his privilege annulled, he didn't try prodding more.

Wu Fei was opening the door when PK spoke again silently; "…the Pact had been signed, Wu Fei-kun. You shouldn't be dawdling your days off anymore; perhaps we're going to loose our days as it is…"

"……I know that, PK…!" Wu Fei entered and let the door panels closed behind him, he didn't want to be engaged in more talk about the Pact right now, eventhough he was sure that the '_whole_' school had known about it already. It wasn't his favorite discussion anyway, the talking about war.

Duo was standing with slumped shoulders near the door, staring at the floor; his eyes were distant and slightly wet, and his hands were balled in rigid grips. Wu Fei had some ideas about what PK had told him; if ever, he himself used to condemn _their kind_ with the same damnation; so why would he treat Duo and his _brother_ any different? –his mind asked, but his conscience felt a little clutch of guilt when he realized his thought.

"Duo, your clothes are damp…and dirtier then before you got out…!" Wu Fei tried, and frowned at Duo's state. He put a hand on Duo's shoulder, "Go take another warm bath? …you're shaking…!"

Duo walked slowly to the bathroom, he looked somewhat defiant but obeyed as if he couldn't do otherwise. "Your towel is still wet, I have a spare one…-" and Duo ignored him all the same as the bathroom door closed.

The warm spray made Duo's body jolt in surprise, as if waking from a nightmare…he still remembered the cold drizzling pour as he lied on the grass; there was something precious embraced in his hand, yet he'd forgotten to treasure it, or how to. Duo choked a whimper as the realization stabbed his heart; _Heero had asked someone else's…_- He couldn't even think of it in words. The water felt heavy for once, and he slid down sitting on the bathroom floor still with his clothes on; on the long walk back, while his spiteful mind was conquered by PK's air, he'd given a thought to the situation. And it all fit like a puzzle…what had happened in the last days; or why Heero was kept in the dungeon of his home, or how they had met each other years ago, and the reason of their relationship that started at the time …and he cursed himself for not realizing it sooner; eventhough such a thing had plagued his mind from a very long time ago.

His nightmares had spoken about it, repeatedly, over and over, every night and day in every waking conscious time…so why did he seek Heero's protection from them? He should have listened to his nightmares than taking the easy way and avoid them; just as PK had said in the corridor. What was that part of him…his Sloth?

The bathroom door opened and Duo came out dripping wet and naked; he stood on the mat unmoving as if waiting someone to tell him what to do after that. Wu Fei sighed, and brought a towel to him. It seemed that since Duo didn't care of being wet, Wu Fei thought that he might as well treat him like an abandoned puppy right now; his mind told him that Duo was too preoccupied with his own thoughts anyway.

"……am I a Slayer, Wu Fei…?" Duo's small trembling whisper stunned him for a moment; he was going to wrap that towel around Duo's body but suddenly his arms felt heavier that they got numb. He let his hands drop; feeling the ends of the fluffy towel brushed his feet, but didn't say anything.

"…you said……that the Maxwell family is like the Slayer's noble family, right?" Duo's chin shook as he pulled his face up facing Wu Fei.

"…So…-" Duo's face contorted in pain and tears started welling out from his wide shocked eyes; and Wu Fei flinched as those hurtful eyes countered his. "…-what are you saying, Wu Fei…?!"

"…-that I'm slaying Heero…?! Is that it?! Is that what I'm doing to him all this time…?!!"

"Duo…"

"THEN, WHAT'S WRONG WITH MY BLOOD, WU FEI…!!" Duo gripped Wu Fei's shirt at the chest and twisted it as if it could help easing his pain, pressing his forehead onto Wu Fei chest and cried. "…- …I…"

"…I don't know, Wu Fei…!"

He whimpered and squirmed on Wu Fei's chest and twisted his grips tremblingly; "…don't tell me, Wu Fei…!" and that was a plea; he didn't want to know such painful truth. Is being a coward a sin, too? He would choose to be in denial than accepting such truth.

------------

"……I was too consumed in the situation…" Quatre stroked Heero's forehead and set some locks aside from the pale face. "I thought…that it was such a _situation_ that someone's Sight would ask me for help, that I didn't notice…-"

"…It had been a very long time since I could interact in such a manner…with such a Sight…" he snickered ironically.

"I didn't notice… Duo is almost 16…! I'd forgotten until he asked about his blood…"

"Heero was asking for help for Duo… He was saying 'help Duo'…!" Quatre frowned sadly. "…I didn't realize it back then…"

"Well…" a baritone voice countered him with ease, "It's not your fault if you forgotten. You haven't known each other for that long, I'd say…!"

Quatre sighed deeply, "…but I still feel remorseful. I feel like I've done something bad to Duo…!"

A snort, "It's no wonder you've forgotten about anything else, with such a Sight summoning your conviction, anyone would loose their minds and perspective!"

Quatre looked even more down, "Aahhh… and I even had much confidence about my own Sight…and just loosing my perspective just as easily like a blinded creature was very…-!"

A deep chuckle; "Well, you're still a brat no matter how old you are, boy…!" a large hand messed his head playfully and Quatre whined his objection.

"Since the Pact is signed…-!" the baritone voice turned serious, "You better think about that and what to happen next instead of wallowing about your failure…!"

"Ugh…!" Quatre sweat-dropped, he didn't really want to hear it said as _his failure_.

"You know _others_ who'd known about it?" the man asked.

Trowa looked straight at the man sitting on the chair beside his Gold. "The Golds are Brio and Frei from East Wing, and Jura from South Wing. The Blackedge must be Naja, and that might also be that his Gold Cleo from North Wing knows as well."

"Hmmm…" the doctor made a thinking pose; they couldn't really see his eyes since his wide thick glasses hid them perfectly. Sometimes the students wondered whether he could really see through those glasses or not.

"Naja the fire descrier…?"

"Yes, that Naja…!" Quatre stared the doctor with wide eyes, a curiosity piqued about the so-called safest place in the school which was that infirmary.

"Well…" the doctor lifted both shoulders, "This is my _ward_…!" (he meant both ways of the literal meanings).

"It's not even the solution to the situation…!" Quatre sighed.

"No one's taking the move yet, so I'd say don't worry too much. Either way, we are to move him to the school hospital, right?"

"Can you do something about it…?" Quatre cut with hopeful eyes.

"What? You think he'd be attacked in the hospital?" the doctor stood, his ragged braid behind his back didn't look convincing as a doctor.

"I don't know, since it was PK's order, may be he'd use Heero as a bait or something. Some of _us_ desired the war, undoubtedly…!"

Quatre frowned at the doctor's back, "…you're as ragged looking as ever, Doc. You know the students are questioning your being hygienic as a doctor…!"

"Hmph…no one's dead because they catch a plague from me while I tend to them…!" the doctor chuckled.

"……yes, well… No one chose this infirmary when they got sick, anyway…!" Quatre mumbled. At that the doctor laughed delightfully, saying it's exactly for that reason that he was that way.

------------

There were the sounds of night birds cooing somewhere in the darkness of the forest and in the shades of the trees outside the window. Wu Fei was spooning behind Duo's back, giving him a much needed comforting embrace for the wallowing boy.

Duo was asleep, tiredly, but his tears still sipped out from his closed eyes; sometimes his body shivered in cold and Wu Fei would tighten his hug, stroking Duo's head from behind. It made him feel somewhat like a father to some extent; a bitter part of his mind stated that he should have been one since a very long time before, if not for _that creature_…! His mind stopped that train of thought abruptly.

"…Heero…" Duo mumbled in his sleep; some droplets of tears slid down from his closed eyes.

Wu Fei sighed deeply; "…couldn't you relax your hold over him a little, Duo?" he whispered.

"Isn't this enough? Him being in your reach; you could live together, dying together…?" Duo answered that with a small whimper unconsciously.

"If you pull him closer anymore than this you'd crush him in your embrace…!" Wu Fei said silently, not knowing whether Duo could really hear him, but he meant to coax him anyway. Duo sobbed harder and his limp hand clawed at his pillow dampened by his tears weakly; in the depth of his consciousness he could feel Heero hurting somewhere out of his reach.

------------

The wall clock ticking softly, it rang with a clear chime-sound twelve times but the last ring suddenly stopped midway; Heero jerked in surprise as he recognized the feeling of being sealed away from the world and Time, his ears were expecting the chiming sound to sound its end but didn't hear it.

The hospital room was dark, that he knew; but the darkness he was in was no comparison to any darkness on earth. He was gravely aware that someone had taken him…

"It's alright, we're here to help you…" a soft whisper sounded near his left ear; Heero jerked and tried to move his limbs, now that he's aware of a hand spread on his forehead and covering his closed eyelids.

Then there was another hand on his collar bones just above the end of the cross wound; then he felt another hand placed on his crotch, the sensation of a stranger's hand touching the skin of his private parts sent charges up his whole body and Heero jerked and squirmed and tried to break free of the darkness that currently holding him. A clear voice in his awareness said that it was only Duo who had the right to do that, and his heart followed with consent to that thought.

"Whoaa… calm down, please, Lord Yuy..! We are not here to violate you; we're here to help you circulate your-self back!" an amused voice sounded from the middle part of the side of his bed, apparently from the one who was placing his hand on his lower part.

Heero heard his own ragged wheeze and gritted teeth, he was aware of the sharp stings on his lower lips where his sucker-fangs had bitten; the blood trailed down at either sides of his face. His mind wildly tried to decipher the stranger's words; circulate his-….self? That didn't make sense to him; he didn't feel like he was being seized by any intended curse before… he was just… starving to death, right?

"Please relax; when we start, it would hurt a little…" the soft whisper in his left ear was the only warning he got when suddenly a painful charge shot out to his entire body, and Heero screamed mutely arching his stiff body from the bed.

It felt agonizingly like the torture would never end. Heero knew he was loosing it when the darkness flared to white gradually; then there was the end of the paused ringing sound of the clock striking twelve from the far wall; and he dropped his body back to the bed trembling heavily like a withering leaf.

There was no one in that hospital rooms, except for several empty beds and small cabinets. The wall clock sounded ticking silently again. Heero balled his body watching the second hand of the clock moving mesmerizingly on its track. His body ached by hunger, but it felt lighter.

……he was wondering if he had enough strength to find Duo when sleep claimed him.

------------

------------

1. …so, if anyone realized it by now, you could say that saru made Duo a bipolar in this fic.

Never really thought of it (really) before; but it kind of shocked saru to have been diagnosed a bipolar myself (just a week ago); saru sure thought that saru just had a quite agoraphobe syndrome and being an antisocial-freak, before… "

wow…okay, so Oni-tan said: don't suddenly SNAP, okay, saru-dear!

….BUT saru is a phlegmatic-melancholic with no choleric streaks, you'd expect saru to suddenly snap…?

(but Oni-tan knew saru could just snap while saru wouldn't call it snapping, just because saru show some protests at someone… just a raise in voice is not snapping, right? Especially when saru had 'laughing'-knees at the time for raising voice to some stranger…, usually saru just bottle everything in; since it's very important for saru to have an 'unrippling'-space and some silence)

…yay for peace!


	8. eighth day

**Shallow Mist 27 nov, 09**

**_Disclaimer_**_: G-boys not saru's (not available to buy anywhere; even though saru might have no money to even try make a bargain over Heero…); 'mugen' is taken from Samurai Champloo, since he made a sign almost like a lying '8' to write his name (sorry for being ignorance and used it as pleased, but saru like Mugen, too)_

**_Warning_**_: critical AU, NCS, some weird occurrences…!_

**8. eighth day - **_mugen: infinity_

The birds chirped merrily, it was almost the usual morning like any other, except for the sound of a crow cawing between those chirping birds; Heero tried to open his eyes, his instinct was sensing some presences in the room with him eventhough his physical senses had yet to waken. About 5-10 minutes later he could open an eye a slit, the sight of the white conventional high ceiling greeted him; there were the clear chimes from the wall clock sounded six times, and he opened his eyes widely in an instant when he realized just how many people -strangers- that were there in the room with him.

On his left, near his shoulder, PK was sitting on a chair, reading a book with no title on the cover; he could only see that the deep purple velvet jacket-cover was made of handmade embroidery of a very intricate design and that it looked old and expensive. Behind the preoccupied PK was none other than Ms. Wintergreen, sitting crosslegged on the bed with balls of yarns on her laps and was absorbed in her knitting; somehow her posture looked almost childish.

The thing that surprised Heero was that there was a stranger sleeping next to his head at his right side, it seemed that the stranger was originally sitting but now he was slumped forward and the sound of his snoring was even louder than Duo's, or three Duos for that matter; and the fact that he wasn't waken up or bothered by the sound was what annoyed him. The sliding window in the wall behind his head was opened and the sunshine outside made the shadows fell on the opposite wall like a projector, he could see the shadow of a bird, presumably the crow that had been cawing since sometime ago, standing in midair but it wasn't flapping its wings in flight; it simply just floating in the air.

"…oh, you're awake…!" there was a voice carrying a smile greeting him from the window; Heero tilted his neck up and saw that there was a young man sitting on the windowsill, and the bird was indeed a crow only that it was a white one, and the crow was actually standing on the young man's shoulder.

"…Good morning!" PK greeted and lowered his opened book when he heard the man's greetings. Ms. Wintergreen was pausing her knitting and put it down on the bed. The other stranger on his right side was greeting him with a louder long snore.

Hero looked back at the shadow cast on the opposite wall at some respected distant from his feet; there was still no shadow of the man sitting on the window. So, it's not against his logics, but he was quite surprise finding that a creature with no shadow actually went in public and show himself amongst other people. Unless those other people were also some significant creatures themselves, his mind said.

His thinking paused when the face of Ms. Wintergreen obstructed his sight; she was leaning over and checked his pupils with a small flashlight, the ends of her fingers were touching his temple carefully. They felt almost like a cool breeze, her fingers.

"How do you feel?" she asked softly. Heero only stared her for some time. There was a chuckle from the man sitting on the window, and a choked and coughed snore from the one sleeping at his right side.

PK was closing his open book with a silent puffing sound the papers made.

"It seemed that we have nothing to worry too much; eventhough there were seemingly some nightmares accompanying your sleep through the night…!" PK smiled and his tone was light and conversational.

"Awww… Don't flatter us too much, Ka-chan; we might get ahead of ourselves…!"

"You are if you're calling me like that!!" the ever-composed PK looked annoyed for once, and the man on the window chuckled again amusedly.

"So, Su-chan; the school starts at 7.00…!" the young man reminded conversationally.

"It's still 6.00! Don't call me that friendly, I'm a teacher and whether you like it or not, you are STUDENTS…!" Ms. Wintergreen said flatly.

"We're still suspended, so we call Su-chan just as your name is…!" he waved and dismissed with his hand.

"……your suspension period ended three weeks ago, gentlemen!" Ms. Wintergreen's eyes narrowed.

"Huh? So we skipped school for three weeks, right? Don't we get another suspension period?" he asked innocently. At that the cold composed Ms. Wintergreen unusually turned around, mumbling something like 'whatever…' and put her knitting and yarns into a cloth bag and left the room after she patted PK's head; Heero felt like he was currently being forgotten that he was there, but he didn't have any objection; he would rather that the others left the room as well with her.

"So, Ka-chan…-"

"Stop calling me that, it sounds like Kaa-chan…!" PK frowned with annoyance he rarely showed.

"Awww, _Mother_…we'll be depending on you for the rest of our lives!" the young man playfully said in exaggerated dramatic tone; and PK threw the pillow from the bed behind him to hit his face, but he countered it with his hand and the pillow fell on the one sleeping next to Heero's head.

Heero saw the white pillow flew above his face, and when it landed with a half-way stop shorted snore, he blinked. It seemed that only then that the other two remembered that he was awake and still lying on his bed, that he was amazed at the situation.

"Oh… I'm sorry, I shouldn't bother you anymore…!" PK frowned and looked apologetic, took his book into his jacket pocket and nodded in excuse, and walked to the door. Heero blinked at the retreating back, and felt something melted behind PK's back, he wondered what it was since he still thought that his senses were not as sharp as they used to be.

"Kahlua…!" the young man on the window called with a big grin, "Keep my records from the teachers, okay? His, too…!" he winked.

PK was already opening the door panel; he looked behind one shoulder and blew him a raspberry childishly and slammed the door shut after he exited. Heero knew what that thing he felt melted was, it was the boy's walls that were always erect around him like a small fortress, but in the company of the ones left with him in the room, that shatterproof PK was just another boy; from the way the young man laughed happily, he thought that they had shared such familiarity for a very long time.

As the pleasant laughter faltered, Heero knew that the young man was now looking intently at him; if it was Duo, he might say that it was impolite to stare down someone while sitting above that someone's head and would tell that person to get down immediately; but as he was still somewhat feel exhausted, he was only hoping that those strangers would be considerate enough and leave him alone.

"Huh…?" a slurred mumble asked, and the slumped head next to his jolted up suddenly; there was the dull sound of the pillow fell to the floor behind the stranger's back.

"…………………………" it was exactly 30 seconds long of pause before the stranger said, "…oh, you're awake…"

**_You_**_'re awake_, Heero wanted to point out, but he didn't really care about such tiny details; above his head, the one on the window started another series of laughter.

"You're the ones from last night…" Heero left it at that.

"Yes, we are. Sorry for the inconvenience, Lord Yuy…" the black haired youngster yawned widely and rubbed at his sleepy eyes; he stood up and stretched his body. He wore black clothes; much like the school's uniform, only with a longer jacket that looked more like a duster than a suit jacket; and the collar was high and folded down like the old style.

"What time is it…?" the black-one asked while scratching the back of his head.

"Hahaa… sorry for his rudeness, he's exhausted from last night…!" the one on the window said lightly; Heero saw a glimpse of shining white hair when he tilted up to see him before; he was wearing the same clothes like his friend only that his were all-white colored, that even his crow was white too.

"I object!" Heero said simply. The black and white strangers stared at him; they were about 18-or-so, now that he paid more attention –not that he would admit it that he was interested in those strangers-, and their faces and postures were shockingly similar, like identical twins; but identical twins wouldn't have different hair colors, right?

"…'no one touches me intimately except for Duo'… I got it; and we know that our hands were uncalled for, but if you think that you could survive alone -especially now- then you could do it alone…!" the black-one said lightly.

Having it put so bluntly, Heero could only frowned in objection, but knew that he was indeed powerless at the time.

"I'm First; he's Second, by the way…!" the white-one decided to lighten the heavy air, "Almost like the two of you, right? 'Hi' from 'hitotsu' (1) and 'duo'…?"

Heero stared silently at the ceilings.

Second sighed and patted his hands to his hips to clean some imaginary dust off; "We are 'first scoundrel' and 'second scoundrel'; get it? We're just villains(2); so we do what villains do…!" –_and that's violating someone's personal space too_, a thought popped out between them but they didn't say anything about it; he bent forward and cupped Heero's face with both hands, Heero jerked as Second's face closed down to his and their foreheads touched.

"Would you rather I close my eyes?" he asked flatly. Heero's face hardened in defiant, refusing to show that he was bothered by the closeness eventhough they already knew that he was feeling so, and it actually brought an amused smile on that very close face; "Alright…" the black haired youngster said simply and complied, closing his eyelids, and Heero felt somewhat relieved when those black abyss of eyes no longer felt like penetrating his every wall and ward.

Heero was prepared to feel the painful charges ripped his body inside out like last night, but he felt like he was floating in a warm air for a short moment, and was a little flushed when he realized that he felt it pleasurable. Second smiled gently and lifted his face; "That's good enough for now. You should rest, we're going to do it again tonight…!"

Heero refrained from widening his eyes, he frowned instead. "You would want to be ALRIGHT when your brother got out from the Attic, right, Lord Yuy?" Second said between admonishing and coaxing, the tone made First laughed again.

"You can call me Hitori, Lord Yuy; 'first' is not quite simple to use to call someone…; firstly, many people mixed it in the grammatical forms!" Hitori seemed like he was going to rant some more of his logics, and Heero decided that the white-one almost had Duo's mouth and thinking pattern, and thought that they might not bothering him that much after all.

"Hey, that's cheating!" Second pointed a finger at his opposite-colored counterpart.

Hitori stuck his tongue out, "Decide on a name to use already; but whatever you'd use, you will still be the 'second' to me…!" he had that half-mocking tone that Duo used to use too.

Second tsk-ed and threw himself onto his chair back, crossing his hands on his chest and pretending that he stopped caring about the existence of his counterpart there on the window. It had passed about 3 minutes in silence, and Heero realized that he had to ask.

"…you're going to stay _here_?"

Hitori chuckled, his white crow cawed on his shoulder; "We don't usually attend class, Lord Yuy!"

"Just pretend that we're like groupies following you everywhere; only we're groupies without H-stuffs…!" Second put simply with the most rational tone anyone could use to state the weather outside.

"What…?!" Heero sweat.

Hitori laughed amusedly at his incredulous tone; "We'll keep enough distance when your brother returns… unless you want to be alone while being kept in this school's ground?"

Heero clamped his jaws, stubbornly didn't want to admit his helplessness, but he knew it was futile.

"We won't bother you; so, please rest…" Second said softly.

* * *

The wind brought the scents of flowers from the outside; it was past 12 o'clock, supposedly to be the break time, but outside seemed even busier than usual.

"It's that annual choir festival or something… everyone is busy preparing the necessities…!" Hitori offered nonchalantly, his book of World History was up side down in his hands; he was feeding cookies to his crow, letting the bird pecked at the cake crumbs around his mouth too.

Heero glanced at the white-one and his white crow stared back at him with its red gleaming eyes; he wanted to know about them, whether they were really taking his (and Duo's) side or with the others, whether they're just following someone's order or were they voluntarily, whether they're potential enemies or just some passer-by. The crow cocked its head as if reading his mind, Heero blinked and strangely he didn't mind if the bird was really doing it.

"…its name was originally _bl__ǣ__can,_ but it was hard to pronounce, so it somewhat turned to _beakan_, from _beak_…" Hitori said with a piece of cookies between his lips, the crow's eyes turned to the cake back as it moved up and down with Hitori's words and the motion seemed to have caught the bird's attention.

"But mostly I call it 'It'…!" Hitori grinned, and the cake broke and the piece stuck outside his mouth fell but the crow pecked at it before it landed on the history book, and it swallowed it in one gulped. Then, the crow uncharacteristically scratched the back of its head like cats would, and yawned out a lazy caw, after clawing at the white fabric of Hitori's shoulder and made a couple of circling motion It decided to take a nap since it was noon. Hitori chuckled and leaned his head to the crow sitting on his shoulder; the bird unusually fawned on his head rubbing with its head and big beak and actually let out a crow-purr.

"Second calls It 'Neko', though…!" Hitori grinned again, "It likes to act like cat…-!" a crow's talon scratched at his cheek, and Hitori sweatdropped; "…okay; It thinks It was a cat in Its past-life!" he corrected.

Heero stared but wasn't actually interested about what that youngster rant about for the past 30 minutes, whether about the bird's name nor the world history nor about the upcoming festival.

"…'hitori' is not 'alone', right?" Heero asked silently.

"Hu?" there was a flush color on Hitori's cheeks when he looked up at Heero's face, he seemed a little flustered that Heero would actually ask something about him. "No… _hi_ 'fire' and _tori_ 'bird'…!" his expression almost like Duo's caught-expression, with a stiff grin but eyes twinkled like a child's.

Heero stared him fixedly with unaffectionate eyes, it made the boy with older looks blinked and pretended to read his book again.

"…you don't really know how to read or write, do you? Human's writing-systems are not making sense in your logics?"

Hitori glanced at Heero who was sitting on his bed, and there was a more distinctive hue of red tinted his cheeks. He didn't say anything to those questions and just let out a series of tolerant chuckles.

"Why would you guard me? You're not a Guardian…!"

Hitori gave a gentle smile at that, his cheeks were still flushed a little; it made his face looked girlish a little, eventhough he was about model-like handsome.

"I'm with him…!" he cocked his head at the doorway behind the back of his chair, and as if answering his words, Second came in with two trays in his hands and one on his head. He closed the door with his foot and walked to the only occupied bed and chair. Hitori raised the bed's table, and as Second put the tray from his right hand on it, Hitori took the seemingly heavy tray from his head.

Heero let the black-one arranged his lunch before him, he glanced at Hitori's tray as he took the cover cloth and revealed a mountain of soda cans. "You want some, Lord Yuy?" he asked childishly excited.

Second frowned at his white-counterpart in disagreement, "No…!"; and Hitori laughed dismissing his black-counterpart's look on him.

* * *

"You should eat something…!" Wu Fei said, sitting behind Duo's back on the bed.

Duo answered him with silence; his eyes were puffy from crying the whole night, even when he'd fallen asleep. There was a sad pout on his lips, and a deep frown between his brows in objection to the world in general. He'd woken up around mid-morning, and refused to talk or do anything move ever since; he'd ignored Wu Fei generally too.

"Duo…, at least have a drink; or are you going to starve yourself to death?"

Wu Fei sighed; "Well, for your information, your-kind wouldn't die just by starvation or dehydration eventhough you think you could cry yourself dry…!"

"……would Heero…?" Duo muttered.

Wu Fei's brows arched, so Duo still felt guilty about his brother's condition; well, not really, it was perhaps about his ignorance over his condition.

"No, I don't think so, Duo…"

"………but Quatre made it look like it…" Duo said bitterly.

Duo's tone was final, and Wu Fei knew he'd refused to talk again; sighing, Wu Fei patted Duo's arm from the top of the blanket. "Listen…"

"…you might not realize it, Duo…" the Chinese paused as he searched for the right words to explain it. "But other pairs had stopped growing up after they're _initiated_…?"

That fact had plagued Duo's mind too, but he kept it to himself; he guessed he could ask Heero about it if he wanted to.

"…so what are you implying, Wu Fei? That we're not actually bonded or that our initiation failed or something…?" Duo's tone was uninterested, but it sounded bitter.

"Don't you think it's the other way around?" Wu Fei was not sure whether he could reveal it or not, but he thought his -present- roommate need some reliefs.

That got Duo's attention enough; he turned his head behind, staring with anxious eyes. "…what other way?"

Wu Fei felt halve regret elaborating this, he didn't know whether it could mend things or actually bring more problems; he thought he just had to keep himself close so they would not get out of hands. "……." He swallowed his regret, Duo's eyes were piercing his with hope burning in them; he just couldn't betray those hurt eyes.

"…that…-" the piercing darkened violet eyes were too much for him, and Wu Fei averted his eyes, staring at his own hand on the blanket on Duo's arm. "-It might actually be that you're the one initiated the bond; and not him…?" his voice faltered at the end; he was afraid if his suspicion was wrong and he'd given Duo false hope, or crushing his leftover hope.

Duo jerked to sitting immediately, Wu Fei was surprise at the move and he reflexively looked up to Duo's face, and he couldn't avert his eyes away after that.

"That could happen?" Duo' s face was torn between hope and anxious and incomprehension and other contradicting feelings. "How…?!"

Wu Fei lost his train of thought by the intensity in Duo's gaze, and he had to form it from the beginning in his mind. "Like… It's just some theory, Duo; there's no proof of such thing could actually happen, and…-"

"How, Wu Fei…?!" Duo barked, and Wu Fei choked his fear in.

"…unhh… it's more of…" he swallowed dryly, if he was wrong then Duo might feel betrayed even more. "-…a thought of…- It's like this…!" he sounded depressed at himself, scratching his head roughly, pulling out some strands sticking out from his neat masochistically-tight ponytail.

"Slayers are not ordinary humans, you see…; some of my kin wouldn't even classify them as ones…! Much like ourselves…!" Wu Fei hit his laps in exasperation; Duo's eyes didn't seem to get what he wanted to say either.

"Firstly, humans don't live _this_ long…!" he paused to see if Duo caught his direction. At his small slow nod after a long pause, Wu Fei continued; "…this might just my kin's suspicion that was born from qualms and aversion towards Slayers; but some of us believed that Slayers feed off their prey's…life…!"

Duo blinked several times in puzzlement. "……hu…?"

Wu Fei clamped his mouth shut and let the teenager to mull at it for some time; "…You're saying…" Duo shook his head ever so slowly, "…that Slayers feed on vampire's…_what_…?"

Duo's brows frowned deeper, "…they're dead, Wu Fei… vampires don't have …_life_…anymore…!"

"They have souls, Duo…" he said silently.

"Really…?" Duo asked slowly in skeptical tone.

"…souls condemned for eternity…!" Wu Fei pulled his eyes from Duo's gaze. "Slayers feed off vampires' _eternity_…!"

"…eternity?" Duo repeated slowly.

"That's why Slayers gained more power with more preys they'd slain…!"

"Power… and longer lifespan…" Duo mulled slowly, "…like you…!"

"Yes… like me, and my _family_…" Wu Fei turned his face away from Duo.

"Why?"

"……we preyed on Slayers too…" Wu Fei admitted silently.

Duo grasped where this conversation lead to; "…your first kill…-"

"…was a Slayer!" the hardened tone made Duo didn't want to prod some more; it was about himself and Heero he wanted to know.

"So you're saying that I might be…-…Heero?" he implied something he didn't sure of himself.

"I don't really know, Duo. What I wanted to say was; that it might be you're the one initiating the bond; not him…!" Wu Fei didn't dare staring at Duo's eyes.

"You're saying that our bond was one-sided from me…?"

"Look, Duo; my suspicion didn't have strong base, and it's just a thought, and-…"

"…that's why Heero refused my blood?" Duo concluded by himself.

"Duo, it's just something that might have been the case; don't jump to conclusion that desperately. You have to ask your brother to make sure; I could be wrong…!"

"That makes sense…!" Duo had a manic grin as he stared distantly at his blanket covered laps; "…Heero seemed like he doesn't want to be with me most of the time!"

"Duo, please listen…!"

"So, it's like this; he was kept for demons knew how long in my basement, and I was desperately seeking help at the time… and of course he was extremely weakened back then, and I did something that could be counted as binding him to me…?" Duo paused and looked up at Wu Fei's face, asking desperately for confirmation; and, yes, that theory could be applied.

"So, that means…?!" Duo's eyes looked manic and Wu Fei knew he had to calm him down before he gets hysterical.

"Listen carefully, Duo. _If_ someone like your brother wanted to reject somebody, wouldn't you think he could do it without so much of a blink of an eye?"

Duo didn't look like he got what Wu Fei meant. "Don't you realize that I'm being too careful of saying his name when he's not around? He's that grand, Duo…! Do you think someone like him could be bound by a mere Slayer?"

Wu Fei huffed, "Forgive me for saying this, but you were **only** a would-be Slayer at the time, so I don't think that your brother would be pulled by you if he himself didn't want it …!"

Duo was dumbfounded for some second, his eyes were blank when he spoke his thought; "…Heero was waiting to be released from his confinement; of course he would want to be pulled out of there…-"

Then it dawned on him; he widened his eyes in panic. "It…It didn't necessarily have to be **me**…! It could be anyone just as long as he could be freed…!!"

Wu Fei gripped his shoulders and shook him hard, "DUO! You're not listening to me!!" and he actually gotten a bit angered at Duo's mud-brain.

"He **stayed** with you eventhough he had to endure things; he **wanted** to be with you even if it costs him his existence…! Why would he do that? He could bind you and stop your growth and made you just as mere _food_, but he chose to _grow up_ with you…! Don't you see?!" Wu Fei spelled it slowly in admonishing tone; he only got more exasperated when Duo didn't seem to get his words.

"So…alright, Heero might yet found the right one to be-…" Duo flailed in denial; his mind was too baffled in grief and desperation that he couldn't think right.

"No! Vampires DON'T grow, Duo! Even if they wanted to…!" Wu Fei jerked him to stay still and actually _think_.

Duo stilled, and made some efforts to say something, but he couldn't form any words, not even in his mind. He shook his head slowly, and smirked in skepticism, and looked frightful, and chuckled at something he didn't seem to think funny himself, and stared dumbfounded at Wu Fei's face.

"He's not…?" his voice was so small and childish and fearful; since he'd thought of Heero as a vampire since the beginning and treated him like one. The fact that Heero was not a vampire would shatter his world and annulled the very base of his years spent cohabiting with Heero.

"I'm not saying that he's not one! I'm saying that he's **different**! _The others_ knew that he's different, too; that's why he needs protection, Duo!"

"……especially from me…!" Duo added.

Wu Fei's veins popped out on his temples; he hit Duo's forehead with his forehead not so gently.

"**Eat** something first… then use the calories to THINK…!!" he almost yelled, letting go Duo's shoulders and watched his body fell behind to the bed with both hands covering his abused forehead and moaning in pain.

Wu Fei hmph-ed and stomped to his own bed and took whatever book from the shelf in the wall, and pretended he didn't hear Duo's childish whine.

"…owwwh…Wu Fei you nutcracker-headed meanniiie…!!" whatever that meant.

* * *

The winds brought the choir's song into their window softly, from every direction of school and town, and Duo who had been picking on his food for the last 20-minutes while looking outside.

"I missed Heero's singing…!" he smiled sadly, "He used to sing a lot whenever I felt down back then…", now he felt the pieces of meat stared back at him accusingly.

"I wonder why he didn't do it anymore… perhaps because he was too full of me…!"

Wu Fei glanced at the opened window, "They're practicing for the Choir Festival…" he lifted one shoulder, "If you behave, perhaps PK will let you out before it starts that day and you could actually have a date and some quality time with your brother in the festival…!"

Duo stared because Wu Fei had said it so nonchalantly. "…you're not coming?"

"I've had it for how long, I didn't care to count it anymore, Duo…!" Wu Fei frowned in annoyance.

"So… you just cooked yourself in here for how-you didn't care to count anymore-long?"

"Leave me alone…!" Wu Fei frowned at his book.

The nonchalant Duo would tease him about how loners would choose to spend their loneliness by being alone, but he had his lesson and didn't want to tease anyone for now, after what happened yesterday.

"Wu Fei…"

"…tell me more about my family…!"

Wu Fei stared at him, but with skeptical face.

"The Maxwells?" Duo didn't need to say it; the Chinese boy knew what he meant, though.

"Go ask your aunt!"

"I had a feeling that she wouldn't elaborate the things I wanted to know that easily…!"

"It doesn't mean she would keep them from you forever…!" Wu Fei said to the book he'd been staring at for the rest half hour or so; "Perhaps she just couldn't find the right moment…"

"Perhaps she could try elaborating when she found us shivering in the ruins of my house and covered with sooths and ashes and wondering why that happened…?"

"How old were you at the time?"

"An 8-year old who had seen his parents died in the fire screaming his name to their very last breath would want to know the reason for it however twisted it sounded…!" Duo almost barked out, but he tried to restrain his temper.

Wu Fei silenced for some time; and asked flatly "……were they murdered?"

Duo didn't answer.

"Did you think that it was your family's doing?"

At the eyes snapped at his direction Wu Fei lifted his shoulder again; "You seemed like you don't trust them that much…!"

"…do you belief in witchcraft, Wu Fei?" Duo asked silently, as if diverting his own question.

"I might have used something like that in the past; but I wouldn't call it witchcraft…!" the Chinese said nonchalantly. Duo stared at him for some time, or perhaps he just didn't want to look at his food.

Wu Fei sighed, "Well, Hunters used their own methods which were usually individually different with each other; Slayers too have their own skills; just like vampires have their own powers. It's mostly like humans have their own different talents for different things…!"

He knew what make Duo asked that; perhaps the boy had seen the seal, which looked like patterns of spells and circles, that was used to confine Heero in.

"How did he Initiate you? Did he take you?"

"Yes…" Duo didn't have a fraction of hesitation revealing that.

"Right; that's common. Vampires connect with their initiated-ones through sins… so that they could be in condemnation together…!"

"We did it in turns, you know…" Duo admitted it without shame, he wouldn't care if he had to do it (elaborating, or just down right doing the act) in front of anyone else just to show his bond with Heero; but he felt like his pieces of meat now leering at him from the plate; he threw the fork down.

Wu Fei stilled for several seconds; "…I've never heard something like that!"

"Not even with Quatre's pairs…?" Duo asked since he thought Quatre would be the receiver instead of Trowa; it's clear like an open book, right?

"Hmph… They could hear you talking about them, you know?" Wu Fei chuckled, Duo arched his shoulder uncaringly. "It didn't have to be lechery, Duo; they could do it through gluttony…"

"Blood-sharing…" Duo added for himself; duh, wasn't that the most familiar things he'd seen in vampire movies of how to Initiate some human into another-creature…?

"It's faster that way; and didn't have to get messy doing it, or after that…!" Wu Fei smirked to his opened book, feeling that the letters now seemed like only black patterns on white papers.

"I bit Heero first!" Duo admitted, staring at the meat and amazed that thinking about biting Heero actually made him hungry. He took a piece with his fingers and chewed it slowly.

There was a thump sound as Wu Fei's book fell to the floor. Duo glanced at him and almost laughed at his gaping mouth.

"I was scared, I wanted to scream, and I was aching all over, and I just though that I should fight or something; even if it's useless. So, I bit his neck…!" Duo swallowed and took another piece. "His blood was cool and slid down my throat like silk, I didn't even feel like I was swallowing it, you know; it kinda felt good in the heat of the fire roaring around us…"

Wu Fei was still gaping at him unmoving with incredulous eyes.

"Hmm… and I think I heard him saying something like 'forgive me' in my head; but at the time I was nearly unconscious from smoke inhalation, so I could be wrong about that…!"

"…you fed on him first…?" Wu Fei asked slowly.

Duo was caught by the words and paused, he realized what he was doing with the food on his plate and stared at it foully; he pushed the plate further from him. "Yeahh…, if you put it that way; I guess I did!"

He swallowed and stared at the still gaping Hunter who looked like he needed a dictionary to spell out his words. "What… did it make us, then…?" Duo asked hesitantly.

It was Wu Fei's turn to look dumbfounded, and he took the fallen book with blank face and put it back into the shelf. "You might have to ask your brother about that…" he said slowly, and decided to get some nap. In his dream, he was haunted by the sight of surrounding white flowers of jade-orchid(3) in a circling garden, it was a beautiful sight, but he wanted to get out from the center of the garden, and he had to break down some flowery branches to make his way out, but he couldn't do it; that's why he was trapped in the center.

* * *

"I'm boooored…!" a little boy said throwing a book above his black hood covered head almost hitting the high arty ceilings, he was lounging on a sofa that was covered with cushions and stylize coverlets (or perhaps one of it was a tapestry from the wall).

"Would you like to go to town?" a dark-skinned boy smiled as he was standing near the sofa feet, like a butler waiting for the master's order.

The book floated in the air and flapped its covers like wings.

"You might want to stop doing something like that; the Colors will see you…!"

"Just brainwash them again then, Naja…!" the small boy said uncaringly.

The dark-skinned boy blinked and smiled; "You'll get another warning from PK!"

"Warning may come as it may come, leave me alone when I'm bored…!" the small boy whined, he was acting just as his looks, exactly about 6 years old would.

"Well…" his Blackedge sighed, "Tell me something you'd want to do and I'll do it for you…!"

The small boy turned his gaze to the standing boy's face, his black hood revealed a little of bluish-grey locks accenting his cherubic face. "Let's hunt!" he smirked evilly.

"That's breaking the Main Rules #7 of No-hunting…!" Naja said indifferently.

"Agh, you're just a liar!!" A cushion flew and hit his Blackedge's face who didn't even blink to it.

"_Boundless_ is here…!" Naja informed suddenly, asking his Gold what he wanted to do about it; Blackedges usually called other Gold with a cognomen except if they're given the permission by that Gold to call him by his name.

"I DIDN'T CALL YOU, FREI…!!" the small boy yelled, and his Blackedge winced at his rudeness.

"You didn't have to summon me, Cleo; I'm not summonable…!" a sweet voice said silkily, a gush of breeze and the coverlet from a matching lounger across the one occupied by the small boy suddenly arose in a twirling movement and made a human shape when the ends of its corners casted aside in inert flows.

The Gold Cleo didn't seem he was fascinated that another Gold from different Wing came visiting him without notice and now standing in front of him under his sofa blanket on his sofa. After taking enough pause giving it the impression as if he was thinking anything, Cleo said acidly "Surely you're not here to leave shoe-prints on my sofa, right, Frei?"

"I see you're bored enough to be rude to me…" it's said with a sugary smile.

"Leave me alone…!" Cleo cut before the other Gold had a chance to make him un-bored with whatever he was going to persuade him to do.

"The Pact is signed…!" Frei said slowly with his silky tone, giving enough ideas about whatever he was implying.

"I said, leave me alone!" Cleo scowled and used the flying book to hit the human-shaped cloth with enough force to make a hole in a body.

The book hit the coverlet at its middle part and stuck to the sofa backrest by one of its corner, making an odd sense to the human-shaped coverlet as the cloth was nailed to the backrest as well as if it was only a human-shaped air underneath.

Cleo didn't seem fascinated by the sight, or the fact that his book might have just made a dent on his coverlet and a quite bothering hole on his matching sofa's back and not the _person_ he intended. "If it's about war, I'm not interested…!" he frowned.

The human-shaped cloth arching his shoulders, "_The others_ are already in for it…!"

"I'm not going to waaar…!!" Cleo whined and made a tantrum on his sofa with flailing hands and feet, Naja flipped the coverlets draped on the backrest to cover his Gold and smiled at the other Gold.

"Do _the others_ need my Gold, _Boundless_?" the dark-skinned boy cocked his head in a suggesting gesture and the red mark on his forehead shone with right angle; it was the customary Indian's red mark, only his was as if the round mark was smeared down and made a creepy shape of a torn key-hole.

"You mean; is he needed in the war, Serpent? Of course not, it's _you_ that's might be needed in the war…!" Frei said with a mocking tone.

"NAJA IS MIIIINNE….!!" Cleo flailed under the cloths and an explosion sounded from the East Wing area; the human-shaped cloth blew up too by a sudden of bursting wind and made the sticking book fell to the floor.

Naja widened his eyes knowing what his small spoilt Gold had done to the other Gold's room in the East Wing, he glanced down to see his Gold had stilled and looked up to see the cloth had moved down to 'stand' on the floor, and a white hand sneaked under the stooping human-shaped cloth to pick the fallen book. The human-shaped cloth straightened up and was examining the book in the hand.

"No wonder you're bored, you should read something more sophisticated then just children fairytales…!" Frei commented through the coverlet.

Naja narrowed his eyes, "_Boundless_, I apologize for my Gold's doing, but would you please unhand him…?" he said slowly with enough silky warning.

Frei chuckled and his hand threw the book uncaringly; and the hand slipped under the cloth again, "…or what? You're going to set his blanket on fire?"

Naja didn't react to that, still staring the other Gold down with narrowed eyes; his large eyes were outlined with kohl and made them more sharp looking when narrowed; eventhough when it came down to power there's no way he could fight a Gold when he's just a Blackedge.

Frei took the fight in Naja's staring contest through the coverlet too; the Blackedge could feel his winning smirk even without witnessing it. By then, another boy landed on the opened windowsill and Frei let Cleo go with a jerk. "I'll visit again when he's not bored…!" he said as a farewell and the cloth twisted again until it made a tight pole-like twirl and opened as it fell into a heap on the floor.

"What was that?" the boy on the windowsill asked with an alarmed frown, he had a silver pin attached on his shirt collar.

Naja practically ignored him and uncovered his small Gold, who was baring his beast teeth with a wild expression at no one in particular, since he knew Frei had already left his room. Naja rounded the sofa end and kneeled down examining the handprint bruise on Cleo's neck with a worried face.

"Don't do something like that…!" Naja whispered with anxiety; kissing his small Gold's forehead and brushing the bruise with gentle fingers. "It's breaking the main Rules # 3 of No fighting another Gold for personal reasons…!" he added matter-of-factly.

Cleo's eyes snapped to Naja's face from the ends of his eyes shooting out poison; then without warning he grabbed the Blackedge's nape and attacked his neck viciously, since he'd already gotten his teeth out.

"Owh--!" the Silver choked on his yelp and instantly turned around from witnessing Cleo's mess, cursing under his breath as he heard the sounds of crushing jaws and splattering blood repeatedly.

* * *

(…that's Cleo…!) Hitori said with his telepathy; Second didn't look impressed and chewed his ice cubes with silent crunching sounds while scribbling something on his small whiteboard on his laps with a piece of charcoal.

(Do you think they'll wait until Scion awake…?)

Hitori stared at the bed between their chairs, Heero was sleeping soundly under the blanket; the shadows of the trees outside the window protected his small bundle from the dying sunlight of the dusk. (…do you think we'll make it before Scion awake?), he countered his black counterpart's question; the white crow on his shoulder was giving a light crow-purr with its breathing.

Second turned his gaze to Heero's sleeping form as well; (If scion wakes before him, then we'll just have to kill Scion!).

Hitori snickered; (You made it sounded easy; do you really think you actually could take Scion after he wakes up?)

Second smiled at his whiteboard and busied his hand again.

(…then we just have to take Scion before that…!)

* * *

_"Waah! Your Aunt Leonore didn't tell me that your brother is this cute…!!" the plump woman squealed merrily and Heero squirmed behind his back._

_He chuckled, "I'm sorry, Granny Erne; he's shy…!" Heero's fingers dug into his pants cloth and he thought he should pull them before they left nail mark tears on it; so he pried Heero's grip off his pants and held his hand, knowing his other hand would be balled before his lips, as if afraid anyone could see his fangs eventhough those teeth were not out._

_"Ooh, I'm sorry; did my tone scare you, Sweetheart? This is just our way of speaking; most people in my town talk lively…!" Granny said nodding her head vigorously; her hair color was dark grey with two streaks of white locks on the left side. "And, Master Duo, please don't call me 'granny', it makes me feel old…!" she dismissed the grin from his face._

_"Then what should I call you with? Mama called you 'nanny', that's why you're my granny…!" he pulled Heero along while entering the house. The smell of flowers instantly assaulted his nose; he remembered only blinking at the sensation while surveying the small fairytale-looking house. Outside, he could still hear the sounds of the sea and the sea birds in the sky; the small cheerful-colored small flowers on the window boxes swaying with the salty breeze._

_No, the house wasn't fairytale-looking; it was something came out of a painting._

_"What's wrong, Honey?" Granny Erne asked when she saw him paused._

_He shook himself, "No; nothing, Granny Erne. You have a beautiful house, I wouldn't have guessed…!" he smiled politely._

_She smiled knowingly; "Well, I'd wished that I could have you here for, may be, a holiday; but I thought if I do have you here I wouldn't want to have you back to your home, Master Duo. So I never asked your parents about it... I'm sorry for what happened…!"_

_"We're fine, Granny Erne. I didn't really think about what happened; I don't know what to think about it, mostly. I guess my parents bequeathed me their last legacy, so I have to be strong…!" he arched his shoulders and Heero hid behind his body when the old woman's eyes turned to him again at his words._

_There was a darkened color in her eyes that made her smile looked sad, he noted; he wondered why everyone who knew his parents would see Heero with saddened eyes, perhaps they sympathized with him when they knew he was supposedly having them as his foster parents but already losing them in his first night after arriving. Some other people he wasn't too eager to meet would see Heero as a jinx and mistreated Heero behind his back; he supposed he should be grateful when Aunt Leon sent them to the people who loved his parents, people who would love their heirs as well._

_He closed his eyes, smelling the salt in the air, sensing the smell of flowers mixed in every breath he inhaled and was complaining a little at the odd mixture. The winds were strong enough that he could feel his braid was played by the breeze, frowning at the straying lock of hair that tickled his face and nose continuously. When he opened his eyes, a vast body of dark blue waters greeted him; the sounds of waves and sea birds filling his ears; he knew if he looked down the stone window he couldn't see the base of the cliff and the water lapping at the cliff wall and some projecting rocks because there were some thick flowery bushes on the base of the tower blocking his sight._

_He wondered why Heero hadn't reached his place; he'd ran ahead of him thinking that Heero wouldn't find difficulty ascending the stone stairs to the top level of the ex-lighthouse to find him; since behind Heero's shy and listlessness was a creature far superior than most human on earth._

_"Heero…?" he called and the void of stone tower bounced his voice back to his ears; he grimaced at the sound._

_"Heero, aren't you coming up?" he tried a little softer and wondered why he didn't get any answer; didn't Heero followed him into the lighthouse? He frowned and decided to descend the fractured stone stairs back down, only realizing that the things were not as strong as he thought anymore as he had to dodge stepping on some loose stone bricks that fell down making loud noises._

_Halve the height of the tower was sunk in thick white fog, he widened his eyes as an unsettling feeling clutched at his heart seeing it; a bile choked his throat and he had to struggle to call out Heero's name in the fog. His hands searched his way along the tower wall and his stomach churned when the wall turned wetter as he descended lower, it was clammy and wafting an unpleasant smell; his mind recognized the thick gel-like goop making his palms felt thicker was congealing blood._

_He wanted to retch; but didn't want to show weakness in such a situation._

_"Heero…?" he was quite amazed that his voice sounded composed enough and didn't betray him. His hands found an opening in the wall, although blinded by the fog, and by the width of it he recognized that it was a door. A small voice in his heart reminded him over and over that it wasn't the shape of the door to the tower he'd use to enter, and even knowing that the tower wasn't suppose to be that deep down; if it was right, then that meant he was below ground level right now._

_Trying hard to see into the room through the doorway didn't help him to figure out the place, sometime before his feet stop stepping in he'd already realized that his heart had stopped beating; so he wouldn't have it jumped into his mouth when anything surprise him there, he thought._

_(You weren't supposed to be here…!) a reverberating voice said indifferently; and he widened his eyes as his mind felt like knowing that voice. It almost sounded like Heero's, only deeper and thicker, as if the voice of an adult Heero._

_Then suddenly a painful charge tore his body inside out before he could ask anything; there was a voice far away calling his name over and over, a voice from another world._

* * *

"DUO…!!" Wu Fei slapped Duo's face as his desperate attempt to wake him up.

Duo's body arched from the bed and shook hard in taught spasms before his eyes snapped open, and fell to the mattress wheezing as if in pain.

"…are you alright? I thought I've lost you back there…!" Wu Fei was crouching above him and wiping his cold sweaty face with palms, setting aside his bangs that were plastered to his face by his sweat and trying to calm his squirming body which seemed to be in pain. "Duo, you okay?"

Duo wheezed a couple times more and glanced at Wu Fei's wary face; closing his eyes again as his breathing calmed down a bit. His skin felt numb when Wu Fei dabbed the moistened towel on his face.

"…Fei… 'eero…!" he tried breathlessly.

"What?"

"…Heero's in pain, Fei…!" Duo lifted his hands asking help to get him up. And Wu Fei thought that Duo had shortened his name to only 'Fei' because he was out of breath at the time, so he let him; eventhough it felt a little too intimately sounded.

"…'need to get to him…!" Duo's hands gripped Wu Fei's shoulders tremblingly, and Wu Fei frowned.

"It's in the middle of the night, Duo! The clock just struck 12…!" he glanced at the table clock on the desk; "…you just had a nightmare, that's all, Duo! Try to calm down and sleep again, okay? Do you want some water?" he pushed Duo down, not knowing whether to be relieved or be alert when Duo's hands fell weakly from his shoulders.

"No!" Duo squirmed and gripped at Wu Fei's wrists, but his strength betrayed him. "It's real, Wu Fei…!" he sounded like he was about to cry by the desperation but soon gave up when his body turned numb with every thrashing he made, and lied still with a trembling body and dimmed eyes.

Wu Fei felt Duo's forehead checking for his temperature, and was half relieved when he found that he didn't have a fever. "Do you want some water, Duo? A warm tea, perhaps…?" he repeated, and that was all he had in his room, a small electric stove and an abundant of tea supply in the cabinet under his bed.

Duo shook his head, his eyes turned focused and unfocused as if his sight was swimming; like he was drunk. Wu Fei's frown got deeper; "Are you cold? Want some more blankets?" he asked while fixing Duo's blanket to cover him back.

Duo shook his head again; he mumbled out Heero's name a couple more times before he looked too tired to move his lips.

Wu Fei stared him down with worried frown for some time; he decided he could company him like last night, and held him until he fell back to sleep; watching for any sign of nightmare so he could wake Duo up again from its clutch. A little voice in his mind wondered whether Heero was really alright out there; but he only had Duo that was entrusted to him to safeguard for the time being, and knowing he wouldn't bother to get out and check by himself with _the others_ outside, he could only stay with Duo.

"I hope your brother is alright, Duo…" Wu Fei whispered to Duo's head when he felt that his breathing had evened out.

* * *

_1. Saru only guessed it; cmiiw… -sweats-; First is just like Saru, then… he's guessing the meaning of words and actually just thought that he could relate words that have the same pronounciation, like 'hi'-fire and the kanji 'hi'-one_

_2. just knew that the word 'villain' was derived from 'villa' (village); it's as in the sense of saying 'villagers' or 'peasants'… and everytime we heard about superheroes and villains (…'superheroes vs peasants'…? Ouch!), we just laugh ourselves off… it's kind of ruining the image –sweats more-_

_3. Yulan; Chinese magnolia_

_.....is being confused with the auto-editing system of FF; since the fic saru uploaded is needing to be edited live....manually.... saru is GAPTEK, for heaven's sakes...! -sobs-  
_


	9. ninth day

**Shallow Mist 22 apr, 10**

_**Disclaimer**__: G-boys not saru's (not available to buy anywhere; even though saru might have no money to even try make a bargain over Heero…)_

_**Warning**__: critical AU, sight of NCS, weird phrased joke…! -you've been warned  
_

**9. ninth day - **_where nightmare resides between…_

_He opened his eyes in the darkness inside him…_

_His mind wanted to reach Heero no matter what it takes; he knew there should be a place where he and Heero were linked together, away from the World's reach and their meddling hands and accusing eyes; that place was where his nightmare had stolen a piece of Heero every night._

_A shiver ran up his spine; fear crept in his heart… but he wanted to see Heero so much; he didn't dare enter the dark chamber in his previous nightmare; as much as the voice of seemingly an older Heero had intrigued him, but his conscious mind fled that dream as if instinctively knowing his boundaries to which place he could trudge into or not._

…_if it was an older Heero residing in that piece of nightmare, why wouldn't he let him in? That question lingered in his head; a part of his mind had undeniably thought that it was his rightful place to be beside Heero, but it seemed 'the older Heero' didn't think so. Why?_

_What was he not worthy about?_

_Would his Heero detach himself from him so the older-him later on wouldn't need him anymore, that's why 'he' didn't let him in? Was that what happened?_

_When?_

…_when would Heero be independent from him? When would Heero start not needing him anymore?_

_Now?_

'…_what would you do if you are not allowed to reach out to him anymore?' an echo whispered like a breeze through his hair._

_Duo closed his eyes, knowing whose whisper that was; his nightmare hadn't disturbed him in a long time, thanks to Heero who quelled it every night when they slept together. Even so, a very little part of his consciousness might have thought the nightmare as his conscience's voice, as bent as it sounded; perhaps what little humane conscience that had managed to survive and tried to break through Heero's curse that was binding them together._

_A lurching feeling in his guts now realized that it might have been his Slayer's aptitude inside him, without him knowing of its existence all this time -and thanks to the fact that no one had tried to tell him about it too, about himself and his bloodline; not even his dear Aunt Leon._

_A little betrayed feeling bit his heart; Duo snorted it out of his mind and turned his head around to see the surrounding. Eventhough the darkness was such a pitch black that gave out the feelings no light could penetrate, but his eyes could see through it -or was it just his mind's eyes seeing from a higher PoV above himself and around- that there was nothing besides the emptiness all around him. But still, his nightmare was there, he knew…_

'_Heero…?' he decided to call out and perhaps wake his nightmare up from its hiding._

_The silence was deafening his ears; but knowing it wouldn't matter even if he tried to walk around or just stand on his spot, he tried to wait._

_A small light-bead fell down without a sound; it looked like a small piece of snow in the air, only Duo knew that it wasn't snow. He looked up to see the direction that light-bead had fallen from, but there was only darkness greeted him. So he followed the light-bead traveling down with his eyes; it moved so slowly in the inert black air, a little intangible wind might have swirled it around and made it strayed further from his standing spot; but his eyes didn't lose it._

_After what felt like years, the light-bead eventually reached the level of where his feet were standing on; though he wouldn't call it as ground. The small orb flickered and looked as if it would die down several times, but in the end it dispersed into a dim hemisphere like a thin shroud of light made of glittering tiny dots of light in front of him, like a beautiful version of the static on the TV screen._

_Duo blinked once; the thin shroud seemed somewhat warm in the oppressing darkness. He could somehow picture some figures inside that hemisphere, mostly of Heero, but he then realized that the beautiful static dots were actually made a shape of figure and not just what his mind made up. Slowly the tiny dim glitters floated and swirled and eventually made a black hollow shape in the center of the hemisphere; Duo realized with a dread what shape the hollow was making… a humanoid form of a black hooded cloak, it wafted as if it almost made of smoky materials. Sometimes he wondered why his nightmare reminded him of a said Reaper's figure so much._

_The black cloak was crouching on the base of the hemisphere, even as almost shapeless as it may look but Duo knew his own nightmare like another side of his own reflection; the tiny dim glitters around that figure dispersed and solidified into another person's image. With a sick feeling he realized that it was his Heero… lying on his back, with both arms pulled tightly away from his body as if they were tied by something invisible; his eyes were tightly shut, with mouth opened wide in a mute scream. Tears and saliva wetted his face; he was turning his head in jerky movements, his upper body was trashing with pained jolts… every time… that black hooded cloak moved… while holding both his legs up and bent around its own sides._

_Duo watched in horror as he realized what his nightmare was showing him… Why would his nightmare be raping Heero…? His mind tried to form in its numbness. If it was what Heero had conceded into in order to quell it down, then…-_

_A painful bang in his chest jolted him forward a couple of steps; stooping his body by the pain, he tried to walk to the hemisphere, but the darkness mocked his efforts as it only lengthened the distance between him and his agonized Heero in that dim cage._

'_No…!' Duo widened his eyes; '…Heero!' he tried to call out, hoping his voice could somehow be an anchoring cord if it could reach that hemisphere._

'_HEEROOOOO…!' Duo shouted in dread as he saw the black cloak pulled out its hand and started to stroke Heero's chest in a way that disgusted Duo, and the knowledge of what that smoky-form fingers would do to his Heero as they stroke a figure of an upside down cross with their pointed ends. _

_He ran as fast as he could but it was fruitless._

… _so it was his nightmare that had marked Heero's chest? His mind couldn't shake the feeling of the wrongness he felt, even in that dire moment._

'_STOP IIIT…!' Duo begged when those fingers started to claw on the fair white skin; in his desperation Duo shut his eyes and pictured in his mind a weapon he had in his right hand, any weapon he could grip to safe his Heero; he plunged it forward eventhough he knew he was nowhere to reach that cloaked figure._

_A wet splat sounded sickeningly too close with his ears. There was a soft amused chuckles coming from his front._

_Duo opened his eyes in a snap; finding himself standing perfectly still, face to face with a standing black cloaked figure that was too familiar to him. His right hand was penetrating the figure's body to almost his elbow. The wet splattering drips still sounded from a close source; the pains inside his chest had somewhat moved lower to his abdomen. _

_With wide eyes Duo looked down and found his own right hand protruding from his midsection, the tender part just below his ribcage, from somewhere behind him; and right then and there his mind's eyes saw that his hand didn't stick out from the cloaked figure's back as it should have been, though somehow it seemed just as natural to him; it was as if there's a space-distortion that linked the perpetrator's body and his own. Or was it just meant that they shared the same body?_

_He snapped his face forward again, shocked to find his own face smirking to himself under the hood of the black cloak. A wet gurgle fought its way through his throat and he was choked by the blood leaking out of his slack mouth._

'_. . . . . . I found youuu . . .' the too-familiar smirking face mouthed in slow motion, with an angelic smile at the end._

…_and everything turned black, he'd never imagined anything could be even darker than the darkness of his nightmare realm before that._

* * *

"DUO, SNAP OUT OF IT!" Wu Fei slapped Duo's cheeks and shook his body violently. It was a losing battle while trying to stop the seeping blood from his abdomen.

A choked gurgle, and Duo's head snapped backward on the damped pillow, with body arched in his desperate attempt to pull himself from the darkness; and Wu Fei's hand pressed his midsection down in grave alarm when he realized the red liquid had dyed the towel even more rapidly.

"DUO…!" Wu Fei called out again, hearing Duo's hard wheezes and with another hand trying to calm his thrashing body, but realized that Duo hadn't waken up from his nightmare eventhough he himself was seemingly trying to wake up.

Gritted his teeth, Wu Fei pulled Duo's restless body onto the floor, along with the entangled blanket; knowing that Duo's thrashing had fast lost its vigor. He stood up and cut the ends of his right fore and middle fingers on his dao fixed on the gold frame at the wall behind him. His left hand sought a box under his bed and pulled out a handful of ash from the bag inside; while phrasing his incantation he scattered the ash on the air above Duo, and his right hand made a series of Chinese spell on the four directions at either sides of Duo's sprawled body on the floor.

Ending his incantation, Wu Fei pressed the bleeding point on Duo's midsection with his bloody right palm; fully aware that Duo had stilled perfectly. Feeling a cold surge of power bit back at his palm, Wu Fei let out his force willing that power to materialize.

"Show yourself…!" Wu Fei ordered.

Duo's body jerked and wrecked in violent spasms for a short moment; then with an inhuman shriek, Duo's blanket floated up in a panicked writhe as the invisible force was trapped in it and tried to discard the tangible matter. Wu Fei snorted at the writhing blanket, his hand felt Duo's body had instantly calmed down and hearing his breathing had somewhat evened out. Swung his right hand at the floating blanket, Wu Fei splattered his blood on the thing and didn't spare a glance as it burst on fire and died with a shattering shriek. Duo might ask what've happened with his blanket afterward, much later on, but Wu Fei didn't think about that right now…

"Duo…?" he checked Duo's breathing, setting aside the bangs that had plastered on his face by sweat. Duo's face looked exhausted and ashen, but his breathing showed that he was now sleeping tiredly. Wu Fei pulled his blood dyed shirt up a little, frowning at the still bleeding skin on his abdomen but relieved enough that the amount of the blood seeping out wasn't as alerting anymore.

Sighing deeply, Wu Fei wrapped Duo's body with his own blanket and put him on the table; unfastening his secret lock-mechanism at the side of the windowframe, he opened the barred windowsill outside along with the window box and its flowering plants.

"You'd be mad if I tell you I had the windows as another exit to the roof and didn't let you use it…!" he muttered lightly to the unconscious Duo. Fixing the lock before he closed the panel so that it would be automatically fastened when he shut the window; Wu Fei took Duo in his arms onto the sloping roof outside his windows; after making sure that the panel locked, he checked around for any witness; and finding no one outside in the still blind nighttime, he jumped off the roof taking Duo with him.

* * *

The windows were closed and the drapes were down; Wu Fei checked for whatever ward might be erected and finding that there was no fatal ward he couldn't break into, he decided he could just break the window glass to enter the chamber.

"You could just ask me to let you in…!" a voice greeted flatly from somewhere inside; and the lights turned on. Wu Fei held the urge to snort at that voice and he righteously waited until that someone let them in, so he sat back on the tree trunk.

The window sash at the right end of the rows slid open, the infirmary doctor didn't look surprised finding him crouching on the tree trunk outside his window with a cocoon of someone on his laps. They stared at each other for some time; Wu Fei bit back his excuse for his appearance in the middle of the night, and just let the man conclude the situation on his own.

"Did you get the culprit?" the Doc asked, his penetrating stare was hidden by his thick glasses.

"…only a little toady. I couldn't stop whatever got him, though…!" Wu Fei answered looking someplace else but the Doc; he needed the man's help for Duo; if it was about himself, he wouldn't even consider speaking with that man at all even if that means that he'd die. And wouldn't dying be a relief?

The Doc smiled, knowing what ran in the Chinese boy's mind; he nodded and gestured that they're allowed to enter the window into his ward.

"I see that you've made friends…" the comment was sounded amused; but Wu Fei snorted at it as if he was hearing a sarcasm instead, staring sharply at the white coated back in front of him, and averted his eyes to the floor when the Doc turned his head behind to see them.

"…and a Maxwell nonetheless…!" the smile was sterile, but somehow it rubbed Wu Fei's wrong side for he bared his teeth at the doctor with a serious warning gleamed in his black eyes. The Doc only chuckled at that and cued Wu Fei that he could put the cocooned someone on the innermost bed near the Doc's table.

"Whose toady was it?" the Doc asked while taking out several rolls of bandages from the cabinet on the wall at the other side of his table.

"…like I care something like-"

"PK warned you, didn't he?" the Doc cut Wu Fei's growl.

"And what are you getting at?" he fast asked back none too friendly. The Doc himself only lifted his shoulders to evade answering; handing a metal basin and a hand towel to the boy and pointed at the sink at the wall across the table. Wu Fei didn't say anything else and complied, he washed Duo's blood off and pretending to forget who the doctor that was in front of him at the other side of the bed and actually staring fixedly on the man's hands when he bandaged Duo's midsection.

"…that's it?" Wu Fei asked when the doctor washed his hands on the sink after he finished with the bandaging; he was hoping that the man would do anything else beside that.

"You saw the bleeding point had a significant trace of power on the reddened skin?"

"It looked like a hand had run through…" Wu Fei frowned mimicking a spear-hand with his right hand; "…but it's not like this!" he added, knowing what kind of wound or scar would be left from such attack. Duo didn't have open wound, only a reddened circular mark with four points at its sides.

"Why would you think a hand had made such wound looking like that?" the Doc was back to the bed side and checked Duo's pulse at his neck; humans would check the vital signs first before tending to wounds.

Wu Fei silenced noting the crease between the Doc's brows. "…how are they?"

"They're strong… To even survive each other with this kind of bond they shared…!" the Doc said almost sounding uncaringly.

"So why would you think a hand had made such wound looking like that?" the Doc turned his face to Wu Fei, knowing anyone else wouldn't consider a hand to be the cause of such looking wound or scar that left mark on Duo's stomach.

Wu Fei silenced for some time, knowing the Doc was assessing him with that question. "He hasn't picked his weapon yet, so I thought he'd used his bare hand to attack…"

The Doc smiled at that answer; "But not like that, right?" he pointed at Wu Fei's spear-hand the Chinese boy still unconsciously held at his front.

Wu Fei dropped his eyes at his hand, his frown creased deeper; "No; nothing like this…!" He couldn't fathom how a bare-hand attack would leave a mark shaped like a four-pointed asterisk.

Suddenly Duo jerked as if he had another episode of torture. The Doc seemed pleased at Wu Fei's concerned look he didn't realize showing openly, noting that Hunter boy gently held Duo's hands that were starting to claw at the sheet.

"Couldn't you just wake him up or something…?" Wu Fei asked flatly when Duo began to mumble incoherent words and tossed his head with labored breaths.

"He'd just drop into that kind of sleep again…!" the Doc said calmly and walked to the door; opening the panel and actually made a face at two innocent-looking identical faces staring back at him. "And you didn't need to ask whether you're allowed to enter or not…!" he sounded half irritated.

"Aah… you noticed us…!" a smiled critic and a crow's caw heard, and Wu Fei snapped his head to the still opened door; he widened his eyes at the ones standing outside the doorway, or rather to the bundle of blanket in the hands of one of them. Wu Fei looked down to Duo again as he suddenly jerked and thrash around as if fighting to wake up from the bed eventhough he was still unconscious.

"Coming, coming…!" Hitori hurried inside when the bundle in his hands started to thrash about in the same fashion; he lowered the bundle of blanket beside Duo, and Wu Fei stared with wide eyes when a pair of white hands sought Duo's head from it.

"Is this alright?" Wu Fei asked the white-one with concerned face, noting that Heero was somewhat looking like he was about half conscious at the time.

Hitori knew that Wu Fei referred to Duo's disposition as a Slayer, eventhough he might not yet be one, but he already had the power and aptitude in him since birth. "Can you say otherwise?" Hitori asked back.

Wu Fei looked down again, seeing that Duo's thrashing had gotten calmer and Heero was holding his head in both hands as if protecting him from something unseen; they somewhat looking like holding each other in the end when they were unconscious again.

"Looks like just sleeping problems…!", Second said from the end of the bed.

Wu Fei snapped at the black-one, going to retort something but the white-one beat him to it. "Nightmares shouldn't bother their dreamers that much; what kind of nightmares do you think could seize some ones their level?"

Second arched one of his shoulders uncaringly; "Some nightmares their level…!"

Wu Fei blinked and looked at the identical faces in turn. "What are you talking about…?"

"Hm?" the two identical faces turned to Wu Fei's gawping face at the same time; "Oh, you don't have sleeping problem, Mr. Chang…"

"…be grateful for that!"

Wu Fei frowned when he felt that the 'opposite twins' commented to him with their trademark of one finishing the other's sentence, it rather sounded condescending to some extent. He was, if you could say, about ready to explode himself with the right trigger since his peaceful solitude had somewhat turned into some childish blood-war the past days, eventhough there hadn't been much bloodshed happened yet; still, Wu Fei's trigger clicked and with gritted teeth he growled and opened his mouth about to retort something offensive after quite a very long time pretending that he didn't care about the school's inhabitants.

"TRY SAYING-…!" Wu Fei's yell cut instantly when he heard a soft hum from the bed occupants; he paused and blinked as his anger dispersed off when he realized it was Heero singing a lullaby, and Duo sighed to a deeper sleep.

"Hmph! He still remembers his chant...!" Second commented with a crisp tone; seemingly unimpressed.

Hitori chuckled when his crow purred (It really let out cat-like purr this time...), "He'd be damned if he forgot that, don't you think?"

"Right...! Wouldn't they miss noticing him if he never sang it, in fact? As in being 'INDISTINGUISHABLE'...?" Second said while rubbing his left temple, it's like he'd started developing a headache. "It'd probably be better, right?"

"Hah, right...!" Hitory said skeptically while petting Beakan's head, "...and _they_ wouldn't bother to keep him in any form they'd sealed him from the beginning if that's the case...!"

"You could wait out the window if you still want to stand guard...!" The Doc offered the black-one while covering the bed occupants with the blanket, noting the 'twins' had the liberty to speak out what they'd felt like without considering the place and spectators. But then again, since when did they care about that, right? The Doc stifled a sigh to himself.

"Naah! We're obliged to stay close..." Second closed the conversation with that, and together with his white-counterpart, sat on the foot-end of the bed across their charges' bed, with identical opposite poses, folding their hands at their chests; while The Doc sitting on his chair and Wu Fei on the third bed of the row, as if giving Duo and his Gold some space.

There was something blurry about the opposite-twins, Wu Fei seemed to know them but he couldn't tick his memory to recall anything about them; only scenes of classrooms kept resurfacing but wouldn't the school life was all filled at least with one scene of classroom or two?

The silence reigned and just filled with the Duo's calm deep breathing as Heero's lullaby stopped when he seemed to fall to a deeper sleep himself, and the ticking of the wall-clock and the table clock on The Doc's desk, and Beakan's sleep-talking caw it sometimes made.

* * *

A series of knocks on the door, and then...

"Morning ransoms...!" a beaming voice worth of a ray of sunshine woke Wu Fei with a start; he repressed his jerking movement and opened his eyes to a more beaming face of a blond.

"Your share, Mr. Chang...!" Quatre offered a tray of breakfast with his right hand, didn't take a time to assess Wu Fei's face when he shoved it gently to his hands, and just proceeded with lowering the mug of hot milk he had from the tray on his left hand to the cabinet separating the beds that was next to Wu Fei.

Wu Fei blinked himself to wake his mind, the chirping birds outside the windows told him that it was already morning; he'd been sleeping in his seat (on the bed, nonetheless). A little mind nagged him that he might have become too old or perhaps his body had become too lazy, for not being aware of a Gold approaching him in his sleep until that said Gold spoke up to him, ...or should it's said woke him up?

Creasing his brows, he was about to say his objection to the blond Gold when someone else decided to wake up with a long moan, thus they paused and turned their attentions to the one bed nearest The Doc's desk.

Another complaining moan and Duo's hand reflexively curled at his temple, ordering the headache to go away. A familiar weight pinning his other hand onto the mattress and he tried opening one eye a slit just to peek at whatever it was laid at his side. His sight was blurry and he couldn't even distinguish objects aside from colors; but the brown color in front of his face was very well-known that he started and snapped both eyes open, realizing that it was his Heero lying next to him, on his arm, their fronts touching each other.

With a gasp he immediately embraced Heero's body using both arms and a leg, eyes fast assessing his surrounding; recognizing that they were lying on the infirmary bed, with the doctor actually watching them as Duo was lying on his right side and was facing the said doctor on his chair.

Above the thick glasses, The Doc's brow quirked up; quite amazed at Duo's flushed face and the fear glinted his wide eyes, as he tightened his hold; Duo looked like a toddler said to leave its favorite stuff doll on the bed and get up. He actually looked cute and endearing to the eyes, though The Doc only stared him unmoving and somehow he managed to give Duo the creeps as he could only stared back and not knowing what was formed in the head of that unkempt looking doctor.

"How are you feeling?" a gentle voice asked him from behind, and Duo jumped and jerked away from the source, or tried to anyway...he only managed to prop his body on his right elbow and bent his legs up, as he was refusing to let go of Heero's sleeping form whose head now being held on his chest.

The fear and suspicion towards him were too plain in Duo's eyes to be seen, but Quatre only blinked whatever feelings might gave himself away in his own eyes; he guessed he deserved that as the result of their last encounter in that exact room. Quatre took a pause, watching Duo's eyes searching any exit in frantic, swept the room in almost panic, and finally they were back to him; a little comfort settled in his eyes, probably at the fact that Wu Fei was there in the room, separated only by an empty bed; although Trowa was standing near him in whispering distant.

A pair of twins standing across their bed caught Duo's attention for a mere second; and as he realized no one actually posed a threat or looking like they're going to, he tried to calm his frantic down. Now he's only eyeing the blond Gold offering him a small smile, with alert, but Quatre didn't react and in confusion Duo glanced back at Wu Fei, as if asking for help, but the Chinese boy only blinked and spooned his breakfast to his mouth.

"Want some breakfast, Duo?" Quatre's kind offer snapped Duo's eyes back to the blond, a defiant stare in his eyes; although his stomach almost growled at him for being stubborn, Duo decided to shake his head. He got Heero in his arms again, there's nothing else in the world that he want, he thought.

Quatre seemed to read his mind, and smiled; without another word he left Duo's bed and gathered with Trowa next to Wu Fei's seat.

Wu Fei stared at Duo's eyes following Quatre to his side, and noticed Duo only allowed himself to calm down once he was sure Quatre was far enough from him; he stared at the blond Gold approaching with his unwavering small smile plastered on his face, and thought that there must've been something happened between the 'brothers' and the Quatre's pair; Wu Fei could guess what it was, but decided that it wasn't really his business. So he continued eating his breakfast in silence.

(...Whose was it?) Quatre's Voice echoed in his head, and Wu Fei paused his chewing for a second, he stared at the blond with almost an objection at being questioned at all; but his mind knew that it was already inevitable that he got himself swept along in this wave sweeping the school; if not by Duo, then he'd be dragged along by anything else one way or another eventually.

Wu Fei swallowed his food and snorted.

'...one of the Silvers; seemed like a precipitative effort to please some Gold...!' Wu Fei thought.

(You couldn't pin down whose toady it was?) Quatre asked still not losing his smile.

Wu Fei spooned his food again into his mouth, averting his eyes from Quatre, '...it wasn't even worth an alert to begin with, so I didn't bother to familiarize to whom it belong to. Duo was in a more alarming condition by himself...' Wu Fei thought half-caringly. They weren't exactly having a telepathic conversation; Quatre's Voice was a one sided telepathy while Wu Fei let the Gold to read his mind.

(I see...) Quatre put his thumb on his lower lips in thinking pose, (...so we couldn't really propose a restriction on the culprit...?). Wu Fei only glanced at the blond for a moment; though he didn't think such action was necessary, the toady was weak enough that he didn't really put his effort in banishing it. What alerting was Duo and Heero's condition, he thought; with the other Golds being bored to the bones for some actions or just a new game to win, the school's going to be more _cheerful_ from now on. He sighed at the near-zero possibility he could have his boring solitude again...

(Well, especially since Duo, or Heero for that matter, being not really up to their names that it's alerting enough that every Gold in this school would try to make a move on either of them, right?) Quatre frowned.

Wu Fei stared Quatre from the end of his eyes; 'But I don't really want to deal with them, talk to someone else who gives a damn more about this issue. I'll just go with the flow...'

(...unless you want the Maxwells to butt in...?) Quatre frowned deeper. Wu Fei looked annoyed.

'That's the more reasons I don't want to be involved in this matter...!'

Trowa decided to win this debate for his petite Gold, he bent down and whispered to Wu Fei's ear; "...You're already in, since PK put you next to the center of all this, Mr. Chang...!"

Wu Fei's face contorted in annoyance, but he didn't deny that fact; his pride just didn't want any Gold-pair saw him voluntarily butting in head first into some other Gold-pair's business; if PK said so then it's inevitable for him, so he could let all of them knew that he didn't have a choice in this matter. And so rest his pride.

"...sorry, then!" Wu Fei muttered clearly showing his irritation.

Quatre glanced at the 'twin' pair standing like statues that were staring calmly at Duo, including Heero in his arms, on their bed; Duo looked flustered under such scrutiny, but it seemed his instinct told him that he couldn't escape in spite of his discomfort, so he tried and bear with it.

(At least we know Heero's been taken care of; it's Duo who's prone to harm's reach right now.) Quatre began.

Wu Fei perked up at that and stared at Quatre's face, who was still glancing at the twins from the end of his eyes; (...you know who those are, Wu Fei?)

Glancing at the twins, Wu Fei thought almost uncaringly, 'PK's pets...!'

(The Keepers!) Quatre turned his attention back to the Chinese boy, wanted to see his surprise or any other reaction he might make at the information. To his delight, the Chinese boy didn't give himself away; his only comment was a short 'Oh...' and a spoonful food into his mouth.

(They're the school's bodyguards...-)

'I know what Keepers do...!' Wu Fei frowned at Quatre.

(...but they wouldn't guard Duo...) Quatre left it at that, knowing Wu Fei would concede to that reasoning.

Wu Fei stared at Duo, still frowning; '...because he's a Maxwell? Or because he's a Maxwell that isn't so Maxwell-ish...?' Duo would find it funny if he heard him put it that way, but Duo was busy ignoring the twins' scrutiny right now.

(Do lighten us, Wu Fei...!) Quatre asked politely, knowing that Duo wouldn't open up to him after their incident.

Wu Fei took a deep breath and let out a very long sigh. After gulping the milk Trowa offered him, he tsk-ed to himself; giving his tray and empty mug to Trowa he decided that it better have more company on the same boat, since the Gold-sharks were definitely in for the feeding out there.

'Duo said that in his Initiation, he bit Heero first, and took enough time savoring his blood too... Then, I guess, Heero returned the favor after that...'

The tray Trowa was putting on the cabinet made a surprised clink sound; Wu Fei let the fact sank in the pair's mind for now.

Quatre looked quite shaken that he tried to shake his head a few times with narrowed eyes.

(Bu... but that's not Initiation, what's with Duo being a Maxwell...!) Quatre tried.

'That's preying-frenzy...!' Trowa closed with finality; Quatre looked at his Blackedge's face with shock, but realized that as a fact as well.

Wu Fei licked his lips, cleansing the trace of milk, but kept his eyes on Duo with a Hunter's stare.

'They're consummating each other for 8 years; gain each other's power to be used to prey on each other again...' he added, almost to himself, '...kind of like recycling'.

'...if it's up to my thought, then...' Wu Fei's eyes narrowed and glinted as he quirked the ends of his lips up, '...I could use a recharge myself when it came down to preying on bloodsuckers...! Or Slayers, for that matter!'

Quatre cleared his throat once; (Right. I know that'd be good for you but NOT good for the greater picture...!)

Wu Fei swallowed his hunger with a derisive smirk as he turned his eyes to Quatre's face, letting the petite Gold knew that his pride wouldn't allow himself to be hand in hand with the likes of him too. And it's been a long while since he last consumed a Vampire or a Slayer as a Hunter... So it's more likely that the Keepers were put there to guard Heero from him as well; Wu Fei chuckled to himself.

If only Duo knew his nature as a Hunter, he wouldn't be so desperately turning to him for a helping hand.

A moment later Wu Fei's smile faltered, as his eyes landed on Duo's small back looking helpless but still possessively embracing Heero; 'Yeah... he's desperate enough to turn to a potential enemy for help...' he thought.

'So what do you want me to do? It's not like the consummation is reversible, if not _**I**_ wouldn't be here...!' Wu Fei growled at Quatre's satisfied face.

Quatre smiled at the fact that Wu Fei seemed to care for Duo, but immediately that smile fell when he realized the situation. (No, it's not reversible. That's the problem isn't it? Since it's already like this, Initiation is impossible, right? Even if Heero become stronger than Duo...) Quatre chewed his lower lip.

'The problem is: Duo getting stronger ahead of Heero; if only Heero had bound him and stopped his growth at least until they're the same 'age'. But no, he's spoiling that boy rotten and decided that it's okay if Duo left him behind 3-years growth. And that exact 3-years growth of power that had become his death-card, right?' Wu Fei elaborated with annoyance.

'I have no solution for that; he brought it upon himself that way...!' and ended by throwing his hands in the air.

Quatre tinkered with the possibility. (In that case... couldn't we have someone to freeze Duo's Time until Heero catch up with his growth...?)

'Sealing a Maxwell? You want this school flat to the ground or left as a crater in its said ground?' Wu Fei blanched with incredulity.

(Not an option, then...) Quatre commented sheepishly with dismay.

'So the Maxwells had left them alone with their bond, exactly knowing that no matter what happens Duo will eventually fully consume Heero when he turns Slayer at age 16...?' Trowa added his thought, but still made it sound like a question.

The three of them silenced their thoughts after that, already suspecting that fact since they'd heard news about that significant pair long before they enrolled to the school, but never actually given a thought in it as their problem.

Quatre realized a fact grimly, (So... the Maxwells are waiting for Heero's end at Duo's awakening, right? No matter what our effort might be, even if it doesn't have anything to do with Duo; for the fact that we're trying to save Heero is still considered as turning against them. They're still going to fry us...!)

Wu Fei let out a derisive laugh again; 'Ha! Now you see what's eating PK that he'd been smiling everyone to submission tens times stronger than usual...?'

"..." Quatre opened his mouth but didn't word his thought out; (We're going to be school-less...!) he commented matter-of-factly.

'It's not the school you should be worrying about!' Wu Fei widened his eyes with disbelief.

As if breaking their thoughts, or just -mockingly- answering them, PK knocked on the door and pleased himself in without waiting anyone to answer.

"Good morning...!" PK greeted at everyone in general.

"Maxwell-san, you look better than The Doc's report...!" Truly enough to Wu Fei's retort, PK's smile was powerfully upgraded that Duo blanched on the bed feeling like he was being torched alive (translation: he felt like being threatened again tens times heavier); so now he knew Wu Fei's words to be true when he said that PK could smile someone to death.

The three students stared at the President with dead masks; _he's shining like the fire of Hell!_ -was in their minds but no one dared to think it into words knowing that PK could easily read their minds too.

"The City's Choir Festival is tomorrow, right? Should you be slacking off and make errands into your comfort zones?" The Doc offered a comment to calm down the students.

"Oh, you mean my comfort targets, Doc?" PK smiled even shinier to The Doc. "Even if I should mind the Festival tomorrow, last night I had two messy dorm rooms to be taken care of...! Isn't it fun to be needed _everywhere_?" the Japanese doll closed with a pleasant laughter, but even The Doc now felt it that he was being oppressed too.

Wu Fei glanced at Quatre for that piece of info; Quatre glanced back at him looking like he had a toothache, (Cleo 'tidied up' Frei's room yesterday, and decided to make a mess of his own room with his Blackedge's blood and bits...!)

At that Wu Fei made a face saying _that's exactly why I didn't want anything to do with you bloodsucking-Golds and your foods!_

"Ah, ...!" Wu Fei's brows twitched when PK's overly _happy_ voice called out to him; "Would you so kind as to company Maxwell-san back to your room for the day?"

"What...?" Duo jerked with fright, "-No...!" he snapped his face to Wu Fei with pleading eyes, asking for his help.

Wu Fei was sweating uncomfortably at the weight of Duo's hoping eyes, but he knew he couldn't defy PK's order when he'd said it.

"Tomorrow is the Festival, Maxwell-san..." PK offered, "I might let you out early and give you the Festival day if you could only be patient enough and behave for the day?" his tone was gentle, but carried a finality to it. Duo's lips trembled in stubbornness, but he was realizing gravely that his hands were already loosening his firm embrace over Heero's body without his own consent.

PK nodded once as a farewell greeting to him; he then turned to The Doc and said, "You could tend to a Silver-doll back to its right proportion, couldn't you, Doc?"

The Doc grimaced, "North Wing has its own doctor, right?" and half complained.

"It'd better be someone familiar with mending accessories, don't you think?" PK said his reasoning and cued The Doc to follow him.

'Accessories...?' Wu Fei grimaced too once both of them out of the infirmary room; he knew that PK was talking about a Blackedge.

(...blood and bits...!) Quatre arched his shoulders, though his face looked disturbed; he'd never do anything of that sort to Trowa, no matter how hungry he might be.

"Wu Fei...?" Duo's hesitated voice called out for help again, he was staring with confused and scared eyes at the Chinese boy, back and forth to what his hands were doing, as his hands lowered Heero's head to the pillow.

Wu Fei looked at Duo's wet eyes, and stared sharply at Quatre; _don't let Duo know about their situation yet, not before we could have the solution, or else he might try to kill himself just to save his brother..._; he willed that thought in his eyes, quite surprised when Quatre stared at him with the same stare, but he didn't show it to that Gold. That click only lasted for about a couple of seconds, and Quatre smiled earnestly knowing someone trustworthy would be on Duo's side, realizing that PK had plotted it from the beginning when he put Duo into Wu Fei's attic, _do what you should do_, he cued Wu Fei with his head.

Wu Fei sighed, and stood up from the bed.

"Wu Fei, no...-!" Duo was about to cry when Wu Fei approached their bed. Wu Fei glanced at the 'twin' Keepers as he passed near them, and tried to reach Duo's foot for just a comforting touch, of which Duo dodged.

"It's only for the day, Duo...!" he tried with consoling tone, but knowing he's not the parental type and failing the effort, so he was asking for help to anyone besides him who might want to coax the scared Maxwell.

At that moment, perhaps not because answering Wu Fei's furtive plead, Heero opened his eyes.

Duo froze, torn between not wanting to let go of him and not wanting to make him worried; if only Heero would scold him with something like 'don't be so clingy, Duo', perhaps he could let him go by his own will. Then, Heero opened his mouth slowly...

"Issoge..., Duo..."

Staring at Heero's wide clear eyes, a little mind in his head told Duo that it was what he wanted; so Heero was urging him to go...-

"Doesn't it sounds like '_it's so gay_' to you...?" Heero's tone what nothing but comforting, but...

"...whah...wh...what...?" Duo tried finding his little mind fleeing somewhere in his brain cavity (presumably to laugh itself off to oblivion).

Heero blinked, he arched his eyebrows. "...like 'Sabbath child'...?"

And his brighten expression saying that matter-of-factly only call out to a darker shadow downed Duo's half upper face, and that's added the fact that he's already pretending he didn't hear Wu Fei's body making a crack- sound of petrifaction behind him.

"BHUUHHH...!" a pair of exploded breaths in unison followed by a brain-breaking guffaw and a surprised caw followed by a long caw-hissing complaint marked the Keepers fall onto the bed behind them with hands trying to cover each other's mouth in attempt to be discreet with their laughter, which was not working; if any, it just made them battled each other's hands while Beakan trapped in that hand-wrestling brawl and cawed and hissed its objection, and all in all it's just fueled their laughter more.

Wu Fei was surprised enough that even though he was petrified, somehow he managed to snap his head to the 'twins' suddenly blowing their lungs out to life, and got himself petrified again with an incredulous expression plastered on his mask.

Duo was petrified on a good reason then, "...are...ar'youuu... joke...-ing, right?", and Heero's eyes were wide and hopeful too.

Heero paused, the Keepers' laughter subsided to a stifled one; "...doesn't work?". Duo felt a little pang hearing Heero's small voice and disappointed tone, but he could only stare.

"_But the child who is born on the Sabbath Day..._"

"_is bonny and blithe and good and gay...!_" the 'twins' suddenly kneeled on the bed and made poetic opposite-poses.

Then they turned to each other and held each other's upper arms with dramatic expression and illusionary roses and sparkles behind them.

"Please, do cheer-up...!"

"Be gay!"

"...!" And their guffaw broke again as they stumbled behind from either side of bed's edges and literally rolling on the floor laughing, while Beakan had somewhat broke free from their tangling hands and flew to one of the foot-end bedposts, letting out grumbling noises between cawing and meowing .

Wu Fei had his eyes drooped-halve in annoyance, mouth opened a little in an attempt to grimace, a couple of sweat-drops on his cheek; now he remembered that blurry-feelings when he tried to recall the 'twins' from his memory, it was annoyance and the effort to forget them and their antics; even if he wasn't yet one of their 'victims', but it still felt like an itch in his brain.

Quatre decided that he could find his exit from that room while it was still lit up in such a (cheerful) gay-mood. "Ah, it seems the class will start soon, so we'll take our leave now..." he said and cued Trowa to follow his step, albeit it wasn't necessary.

The guffaw parade paused as they passed the passage separating bed rows; Quatre had his smiling face intact and intentionally said, "Issoge, Trowa...!" when he opened the door and his stifled laugh broke outside after Trowa closed the infirmary door. And, of course, the lunatic 'twins' started their overly _gay_-ish laughter again on the floor.

Duo had the most annoyed tolerating expression mixed with a jaw-drop and a teeth-bearing effort on his face; if he's right, he would never hear the end of it every time anyone of them heard that word. Got to praise how words' meanings and their applications developed along with the changing of civilization... He felt like running away from that guffaw now turned to almost-lunatic cackle; yes, when you laughed so much that your stomach hurts and you're out of breath but couldn't stop laughing, you'd make a freaky agonized laughter sound in the end; have you ever tried that?

Wu Fei cleared his throat; "...Duo?" he tried.

Duo didn't react for several seconds; then he made a sound like shivering mumble as his body trembled to wake half-consciously, "...hnghhh... yeahh..." he mumbled, his expression changed to a duller version of the one he made earlier, but still looking like his mind already fled somewhere in seek of refuge. "...tomorrow, then, Heero..." and put a hand on Heero's head and left the bed with blank eyes as if being hypnotized.

Once he was outside, knowing Wu Fei followed him obligatorily, and hearing the two-lunatics' laughter still managed to develop to an even cheerfully-twisted cackle, Duo squatted down with depressed hunch, having his forehead pressed to the wall, hands clawing the said wall at the sides above his head.

Wu Fei let out a long knowing sigh, "...brain-itch will make you suicidal; just let it go, Duo...!"

Duo answered with banging his head to the wall; "...but...but...-why? My Heero took their viral brain-infection...?" he complained with tearful voice.

Wu Fei sweat-dropped, "Duo... that was just a joke to cheer you up..."

"But he never joked befooooore...!" Duo hissed with flowing tears, realizing his damnation already brought upon him (and upon his _cheerful_-wannabe Heero), what's with them being in an all-boy school and having you-know-what-kind of relationship as themselves. If ever that joke spread out... Hell would never freeze over that.

Wu Fei averted his eyes to the ceilings, '_and I think I know why he never tried before_'... he thought; he only kept it to himself, though. But he kind of enjoyed Duo-the-drama-king's show; _but gay and cheerful could come in any kind of forms_, his mind said feeling the tickles in his brain, since he'd long forgotten what it felt like to be humorous; and not realizing himself that he was almost grinning when they walked all the way back to The Attic.

* * *

A chuckle, "...that was good, Lord Yuy; if not he'd still be arguing about going back to The Attic now...!" Hitori said with amusement tinged his tone. Beakan landed on his left shoulder, letting out a hoarse meowing sound in complaint.

"I'd rather I didn't have to laugh that much again, though..." Second half-objected, "...owww, my baaaack..." he added massaging the sides of his waist.

Hitori rolled his eyes, snorted at his black-counterpart; "You sound like an old man...!"

"I'm _old_ enough, thank-you!", Second retorted.

"...how long are you going to be following me?" Heero asked silently.

"How long do you need?" the 'twins' asked in unison.

"I'm not going to kill Duo, so the both of you could save yourselves the waiting..." Heero said with finality.

Second put his head on the pillow facing Heero at his eye-level; "I'm afraid, _that_ is not optional. You are to end it, no matter what it takes...!" he said softly.

"End it..." Hitori added when his partner straightened, "...or this world comes to an end!" with a much serious tone.

Heero silenced and turned his body to lie on his back, facing the white ceiling and looking like he found an escape from his thought, just staring at the color and perhaps pretended that he was drowned in nothingness.

"...you are not allowed to say '_I don't care_' this time..." he heard one of the 'twins' said it, but didn't really catch who it was nor he cared. He closed his eyes and hoped sleep would let him have the refuge for awhile, for the rest of eternity would've been better for everyone, but he knew that wasn't going to be granted.

* * *

waaah, saru hadn't been writing this story for a long while... for everyone who'd appreciated saru's weird stories. Thank-you so much.

- had another invitation to a local event to be the judge for the comics/fanart contest on July 3rd next week; saru is currently trying to flip back sleeping time to normal pattern, as saru's sleeping pattern was already the opposite to normal sleeping/living time; haven't succeeded so far... it just make saru's sleeping time random and incapacitating saru to do the comics n illustration works, had yet to cross any deadline but granted saru would be late with this kind of progress. -sniff-

plus, the internet connection is killing this monkey...


End file.
